


Unexpected places

by kiarcheo



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Pezberry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-12
Updated: 2010-12-12
Packaged: 2017-12-07 13:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/749065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘It was all Berry’s fault. She was everywhere. Every single moment of Santana’s life she was there’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Glee Femslash Big Bang Challenge.](http://community.livejournal.com/gleefsbigbang/)  
> Written before we saw Santana's mother on the show.

“Ms. Lopez, something happened in the last few days that might be relevant for this investigation?” the police officer asked.

 “No, nothing…. Well, I received this.” The woman rummaged in her bag, and then showed him a letter.

 The officer scanned the sheet that announced Ms. Lopez in the legal controversy about the house property.   

 “Do you think your husband…”

 “Ex.” Ms. Lopez corrected him.

 “Sorry. Do you think he could be responsible for this?”  His hand waved toward the house, swarming with officers, fire fighters and technicians.

 “Yes.” A girl who just came up to them answered.

 “ Santana…” the woman warned her.

 “We know what that bastard is capable of,” she spit.

 “You are?” the officer asked, taking out his notepad.

 “Santana Lopez. She is my daughter. Hija, this is his house too.”

 “Not anymore.”

 Silence fell upon them as they looked at the house.

 “Do you have someplace to stay?”

 “What about my stuff?” Santana asked.

 “I’ll ask someone to accompany you. Take the necessities and come out quickly, it’s not safe”

 “Thank you, officer” Ms. Lopez thanked him.

  Mother and daughter found themselves out of the house after half an hour, bags lying at their feet.

 “We can’t go to a hotel, right?” It was more a statement that a question.

 “Not if we want at least to start fixing this mess,” was the answer.

 “What are we going to do, Mama?”

 “Don’t worry, I’ve already made a call, we won’t sleep on the street,” the woman smiled tiredly. “Come on, she is waiting for us”

 


	2. Chapter 2

"What are we doing here?" Santana eyed the neighborhood, an area of a different class from where they lived… well, had lived. These were the kind of houses that a family like the Fabrays would own… Who did her mother know that lived here?

Her mother didn't answer, but got out of the car. She pushed the gate outside the house open and crossed the garden, her daughter following her.

Santana saw her mom hesitating between knocking on the door and ringing the bell, settling on the latter.

The door burst open.

"Leonor, why didn't you use the key?"

"Well, I'm a guest"

"Nonsense," the host let her out of the hug. "Santana, come in."

"Berry?" the Latina roused from the shock.

"You two know each other?" Leonor asked.

"We're in Glee club together," Rachel explained, hushing them inside.

Both girls could see the curious and analytic look on the older woman's face and knew that the subject would come up again in a later conversation.

"If it's okay with you, Santana could take the room at the end of the corridor upstairs and you can have the one on the ground floor"

"It's perfect, Rachel, it's more that we could have hoped. I don't know how to thank you."

"I'm going to show Santana around and then we'll talk, okay?" Rachel interrupted her, ducking her head.

The woman saw the uncomfortable stance of both girls and agreed. "Okay, I'll put my bags in my room and I'll wait for you on the couch"

Rachel led Santana upstairs, indicating the various rooms before reaching the last one.

"This is your room. Get comfortable and… when you're ready come downstairs." She didn't know what to say to the other girl, who was still in shock, so she left and joined her mother.

When Santana collected herself, she decided to go downstairs and demand an explanation. The sight that greeted her made her stop in her tracks. Her mother was hugging Berry. No, she was crying on her shoulder while the girl whispered comforting words.

"Sorry." Finally the woman wiped away her tears.

"Don't worry, I was told that sometimes crying is the best therapy." Rachel winked, because it was Leonor who had told her that. The older woman smiled.

"I'll go to cook something." Rachel stood up.

"Niña, I can."

"Oh no!" The girl cut her short. "You won't work, you're a guest. Besides, I'll have the chance to put your lessons into practice. It's not like I've had many occasions to cook for someone else"

"Your fathers?"

"Away."

Santana was still listening out of their sight, and she was expecting her mother to start interrogating Berry, but instead she seemed satisfied by the short answer.

"Is there anything Santana doesn't like?" Rachel asked, her head in the fridge.

"Oh, she'll eat whatever you give her," Leonor said.

"Okay, but if I can…I mean, it must be tough for her."

"You never talk about each other…" The woman said casually.

"We are in different circles, you know, with her being a cheerleader and me being a loser."

"Rachel!" Leonor scolded her.

The girl shrugged, already knowing that the woman didn't like her talking about herself in those terms.

"How do you know each other?" Santana entered the kitchen.

Rachel stiffened and kept herself occupied, hoping that she wouldn't need to answer. She knew that as soon as she opened her mouth Santana would get annoyed and possibly insult her, and she didn't want to explain to Leonor that she lied to her when she said that she didn't know any of the students who bullied her.

"I've know her since she was little. I've been her housekeeper for years"

"You're much more than that!" Rachel corrected her.

"Thank you, niña."

"She didn't miss a birthday," Rachel explained, passing Santana on her way to the living room. "And it's more than my parents ever did," she mumbled when she thought the others wouldn't hear her.

 

 

ooooo

When Santana heard knocking on her door she cursed, already irritated by the thought that she'd have to go to school the next day.

"Santana?"

The girl rolled her eyes, annoyed but grateful that at least Berry had the grace to not barge into her room unannounced.

"What?" she yelled.

"Can I enter?"

Santana left the bed and flung the door open. "What do you want?"

"I…" Rachel thrust something at Santana. "I know that you don't want to be associated with me. This way you won't have to wait for me after school."

The Latina watched Rachel's back retreating before looking down at her hand which was now holding a set of keys.

"She could have least told me which key opens what." Her words were less sharp than she wanted them to be.

 

 

ooooo

"No lo puedo creher"

"Que, mama?"

"Madre mia! Santana!" Leonor brought her hand to her chest. "I didn't hear you," she said, taking a calming breath.

"Berry gave me the keys." She dangled them.

"Could you at least call her Rachel? After everything she is doing for us, it's the least you can do," the woman scolded her.

"Yes, mama." Santana rolled her eyes "What is that you can't believe?"

"Other clothes so ruined that you need to throw them away." She had in her hands a bright orange sweater.

"It's not a great loss," Santana mumbled.

"It's good that she keeps buying cheap clothes. I think she spends more on clothes than on food anyway." Leonor shook her head. "Throwing food at people! What kind of school is this?"

"Drinks," Santana corrected her without thinking.

"I'm not talking about just the slushies. I swear, if I find out who is doing this…" She let the threat linger.

"Be…Rachel never said…" The girl asked worried.

"Please! If I hadn't got suspicious as to why she always came home with different clothes than the ones she wore in the morning, she would have continued washing her own clothes so that nobody suspected anything." Leonor scoffed, clearly unhappy with how Rachel was dealing with the situation.

 

 

ooooo

Santana was passing by Rachel's room, when she heard a male voice. She smirked, thinking that Berry was entertaining a boy in her room, and she pushed slightly the door, wanting to catch them in the act.

"I can't wait for you to arrive, I have so many things to tell you"

What Santana saw through the small opening was Rachel, sitting at her desk and in front of her computer, talking with some guy.

"Honey," a black man spoke from the screen.

"What is it, Daddy?" Rachel asked, a little tremble in her voice.

"I know that we promised you that we would come back… and that we would celebrate your birthday…"

"But…"

Santana could see Rachel swallowing by force.

"They offered us a contract, it's a unique occasion."

"How long?" Rachel interrupted him.

"Six months, but then they could extend it."

"Rachel, baby," the other man spoke for the first time.

"No, it's okay, I know how important it is to you," Rachel said brightly, glad that with her years of training her voice didn't betray her bitter thoughts. 'Surely more important than me'.

The two men were now smiling, and Santana deduced that Rachel was too.

"Honey, I'm sorry to cut it short, but we need to go."

"I understand. Bye, Dad. Bye, Daddy." She disconnected the call without waiting for a response. She couldn't bear to hear that they loved her, not right now.

She stood up angrily, throwing to the ground books, pens… everything that was within her reach.

Then she opened her closet, a magnetic board hanging from the inside door. She wiped out the writings on it, the plan of her days with her parents.

She looked at the now blank surface, shaking her head, as tears streamed down her face.

"Stupid. I should have known better"

Santana was tempted to knock, asking if she was okay, but quickly discarded the idea - she didn't know how to handle people crying (unless they were crying because of her, but then, she wouldn't even think about consoling them, she would continue to bear down hard on them) and Berry wasn't even her friend.

"What's the crash?" Leonor climbed the stair, dishcloth still in her hands. Seeing Santana in front of Rachel's room, she looked questioningly.

"She was on Skype with her parents."

"Oh yes," the woman nodded. "They are coming next week, Rachel is very excited. They missed her birthday and she is looking forward spending time with them"

Santana looked at her shoes, an unusual sympathy for the girl filling her.

"What do you know?" Leonor observed her daughter.

"I think they aren't coming."

"You think?"

"Okay, I overheard them telling Rachel," Santana admitted.

Leonor shook her head sadly, her eyes bright. "Poor girl," she sighed. "I suppose tonight we will be eating alone, she is never in the mood after that," she said, leaving Santana to wonder how many times it already happened.

 

 

oooooo

Music reached Santana's ears as she opened the door.

_Si tú no vuelves_   
_se secarán todos los mares_   
_y esperaré sin ti_   
_tapiado al fondo de algún recuerdo_

Santana groaned. If she had to listen someone singing couldn't have been at least Berry? You could say almost anything about her, but not that she couldn't sing. And surely she sang better than her mother.

Santana thanked God that she hadn't taken her singing voice from her mama, because no matter how hot and badass she was, she would have been kicked out from Glee for that (probably by Rachel, for ruining their performances).

She shivered at the thought. Just because it would have been humiliating for a Cheerio, not because she cared so much about Glee club. At all.

_Si tú no vuelves_   
_mi voluntad se hará paqueña..._   
_Me quedaré aquí_   
_junto a mi perro espiando horizontes_

Santana started smiling as Rachel sang the next verse, but stopped herself. Just because she had wished that Rachel was singing instead of her mother, it didn't mean that she was happy about it. She had to bear Berry's voice enough at Glee.

_Y cada noche vendrá una estrella_   
_a hacerme compañía_   
_que te cuente cómo estoy_   
_y sepas lo que hay_   
_Dime amor, amor, amor_   
_estoy aqui ¿no ves?_   
_Si no vuelves no habrá vida_   
_no sé lo que haré_

But she had to admit that Berry singing in Spanish was hot. There has always been something captivating in her voice, Santana mused following the music, and the language only enhanced it.

These kinds of thoughts stopped at once as she arrived in the living room. Rachel and her mother were twirling around singing into feather dusters as if they were microphones.

"What are you doing?"

"We are singing, don't you see?" Leonor smiled waving her 'mic' around as Rachel stopped the music.

"Oh, I saw," Santana nodded smirking. "Should we propose it as a Glee number?"

Rachel stopped smoothing down nonexistent wrinkles on her clothes. "Although I believe that performing in a language different from English would demonstrate our superiority in the eyes of a competent jury and would secure us the favor of every minority," she took a breath and glared at her, knowing that she was just messing with her. "I don't think our teammates have enough knowledge of Spanish to pull it off."

Confused and uncomfortable with the change of atmosphere Leonor frowned. "But I thought that your coach was also your Spanish teacher?"

"Let's just say that he isn't a great teacher like you," Rachel smiled and pecked her on the cheek before leaving the room.

"You taught her?" Santana asked her mom, even if she was more surprised at Rachel's dig at Mr. Schue when she could have just said that their friends weren't as intelligent and focused as her. Both things were true, anyway.

"When she was little we spent a lot of time together. She had a lot of free time," she added sadly, thinking about how Rachel didn't have friends to invite over or go visit. "And she has always been curious and very bright," she smiled, reminiscing about a younger Rachel. "She asked me to teach her and I did. Why?"

Santana shrugged. "Just curious. I'm surprised that she didn't brag about it"

Leonor frowned at her. "It wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer, you know?"

"I don't know, but I prefer to not find out," Santana's smirk fell as she saw the not very amused look on her mother's face. She took leave to her room.

It was all Berry's fault. She was everywhere. Every single moment of Santana's life she was there, and she had forgotten that she wasn't at school but at home, where her mother was totally unimpressed by her snarky remarks. At school it would have gotten at least an approving nod.

 

ooooo

"Where are you going?" Santana leaned against the door.

"Out." Rachel cursed herself for having forgotten to close the door while she was changing.

"Hot date?" the Latina smirked.

"No," the other girl answered clipped.

"I didn't know you owned normal clothes."

"I didn't know you cared."

Santana shrugged. "The red one," she suggested, seeing Rachel looking at two Grecian tops.

Rachel looked at her suspiciously, but she slipped the red one on.

"It looks good," Santana complimented her.

"There is no difference when you're covered in slushie."

The door bell saved Santana from Rachel's bitter words, as the Latina hurried to answer.

"Hello, Santana. Is Rachel ready?" a tall woman asked.

The girl stood looking at her, trying to remember the familiar face.

"Ms. Corcoran, I'll call Rachel," Leonor grasped Santana's arms and moved her away from the entryway. "Come in," she invited, before hissing to her daughter. "Your manners!"

"Rachel, your mom is here!"

"Coming!" the girl yelled.

Santana left the two women making small talk and climbed the stairs. When Rachel emerged from her room she grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Santana!" Rachel whispered harshly.

"What is she doing here?"

Rachel shook her off. "She is my…" she motioned with her fingers as putting her words in inverted commas "hot date," she said annoyed.

"Have you forgotten what she did to you?" Santana asked angrily.

"No, I hadn't forgotten" Rachel smiled sadly "but I forgave her. I believe everyone should have a second chance. And you are one of my finest example, don't you think?" she said before going down "Hey mom, I'm ready to go"

"I can't believe she is letting that woman back into her life."

"I was dubious too, but Rachel is one of the most forgiving people I know… and I think that Ms. Corcoran really loves her… and God knows that Rachel needs that," Leonor agreed. "But it's nice that you care about her."

Santana glared at her mother. "I don't care about Berry," she mumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is 'Si tu no vuelves', I listened to the duet version, with Miguel Bosè & Shakira (www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=UDdp28d1-D0)


	3. Chapter 3

"Since when do you care about our resident diva?" Kurt, flanked by Quinn and Mercedes cornered her.

Santana rolled her eyes, annoyed at the accusation, before turning to them scowling.

"What are you talking about?" she spat out, acting offended by the mere assumption.

"You stopped the slushie attacks," Mercedes spoke up.

"Listen, they slushie her or you," she hurriedly added, waving towards Kurt and Mercedes with a sort of disgusted expression "because they think that Glee is for losers. Well, I'm in Glee, and Santana Lopez is no loser!"

"Good, we were afraid you were growing a conscience," Quinn said, before leaving, satisfied by the answer.

ooooo

Rachel tried to ignore the girl hovering at her bedroom door, instead concentrating on her book. But she couldn't help but sneak a peek every now and then, wondering what Santana wanted, since she didn't give any sign that she intended to speak.

"Why did you stop the slushies?" she finally asked, sitting up from her laying position.

"Why did you believe me?" Santana counteracted.

"What?" Rachel asked confused.

"At Sectionals, why did you believe me?"

"I asked first," Rachel stood up, hands on her hips.

They glared at each other, neither intended to be the first to give in.

"If you really wanted to destroy Glee club you could have simply quit it before Sectionals. We needed twelve members, and without you we wouldn't have been able to compete," Rachel huffed and then looked at Santana expectantly. "Well?"

"What?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I answered, now it's your turn. Why did you stop the slushies?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Please! Like you don't know that it's been weeks since I've been slushied," Rachel scoffed.

"And what makes you think that I've got anything to do with it?" Santana tried to hide the satisfaction at the efficacy of her actions.

"Who else could have done it? Certainly not Finn or Noah, since they couldn't stop being slushied themselves. And the only Gleeks who have never been slushied are you and Brittany." She stopped to think. "Well, Mike and Matt too, but it's because many people don't even know they exist," she shrugged. "Anyway, I don't think that it's Brittany whom they're afraid of."

This time Santana couldn't help the smirk. "Damn right," she nodded to herself proudly and Rachel found herself smiling at the Latina's cuteness.

For a moment Santana mirrored the smile, before starting to talk: "Now that I live with you, you have enough ammunition to destroy me."

"Spare it, Lopez," Rachel snarled, every trace of kindness and relax gone from her face and her voice. She pushed past her, her shoulder colliding with the Latina's arm, as she stormed in her bathroom and slammed the door.

"What the hell happened?" Santana muttered, standing in the middle of Rachel's bedroom, confused at the sudden change of atmosphere.

After some minutes, seeing that Rachel didn't have any intention to come back, she left the room.

"I heard a bang," Leonor addressed her daughter while continuing to dust the living room.

"Rachel."

"What happened?"

"I wish I knew."

Leonor stopped and turned towards Santana, looking at the girl while waiting for an explanation.

"Really, I have no idea. One minute we were talking normally," Santana added in her mind 'The first time in my life, I didn't even threaten her!' before going on. "And the next she performed one of the patented Berry storm outs."

"Maybe you should talk to her and explain yourself."

"Why do you assume it's my fault?"

Her mother looked at her, daring her to disagree.

"Anyway, she'll get over it, she always does." Santana shrugged, mindful of past experiences in Glee, where after a diva fit she always came back, sometimes apologizing, the majority of times acting as if nothing had happened.

After two weeks Santana began to doubt her reasoning.

Even before they had to live together, since Santana joined Glee, Rachel would greet her in the hallway, or at least, on Santana's lucky days, nod and smile, without trying to talk with her.

Since the storm out, Rachel instead ignored her and Santana didn't like it. She was used to ignoring people, not to being ignored herself. Students parted like the Red Sea when she passed, but Rachel continued to go on her way, without changing directions, looking ahead as if Santana wasn't even there.

In Glee Rachel stopped joining Brittany's impromptu dances and she didn't offer advice on Santana's singing anymore, like she continued to do with the other members: it was like Santana didn't exist in Rachel's world.

Out of school, things weren't any better. Rachel seemed to know Santana's schedule by heart: she ate at home when the cheerleader was out, but if Santana was around, the singer would kiss Leonor and go out, coming back at night, to sleep.

Santana guessed that she went to her mother's, since she didn't have any friends.

At first the Latina was happy, it was like living with just her mother again, but soon the house started feeling too big and too empty without Rachel's singing to fill the air. Santana wondered how haunting it had to be living there completely alone, as Rachel seemed to have done before and if the diva talked and sang all the time to fill the void.

The Cheerio realized that they used to watch the TV together in the living room, even if they both had a television in their bedroom and that she missed bickering with Rachel over every little thing, sniping at her choices in movies, cheating with her cell to answer the quiz show's questions before Rachel…

ooooo

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to have practice!"

Santana decided to worry later about the creepiness that was Rachel Berry knowing every movement of her schedule. "I spread the word that there was going to be an extra practice."

"Why?" Rachel looked at her suspiciously.

"It'll be fun tomorrow seeing their reactions when they find that they exhausted themselves thinking it was Sue's way to test them and instead Sue hasn't the faintest idea." Santana smirked before turning serious. "We need to talk"

"I don't have anything to say to you." Rachel straightened her back and folded her arms.

"Really? What about the fact that you've been ignoring me completely?" Santana asked sarcastically.

"Why? Did it hurt your ego?" Rachel sneered. "Besides, we wouldn't want anyone knowing that we are amicable, what if someone finds out we live together?" she gasped dramatically.

"What are you talking about?" Santana looked at her annoyed and confused.

"You said it yourself, it would destroy you."

Santana stared at Rachel.

"You're an idiot!"

"How dare you!" Rachel spluttered affronted.

"Let me talk," Santana interrupted her "I don't want people to know that I live here, it's true," she admitted, and hurried to continue, seeing Rachel opening her mouth. "But it's not because I live with you. I'm homeless. And it's his fault, Rachel, he was supposed to be my father, my fucking father! He practically threw me and my mother on the street! They would find out that we couldn't afford a hotel and that you took us in because my mom is your housekeeper."

"I took you in because I love your mother," Rachel protested.

"Do you think they would care? No, they would simply start talking and spouting insults."

"Really, Santana, are you telling me that? Do you know who you are talking to? What you just described is my life!"

They looked at each other, understanding descending on them.

"Ask me again." Santana broke the silence.

"What?"

"Ask me again, and this time let me finish."

Rachel took a deep breath "Why did you stop the slushies?"

"Living with you I found out that you're still annoying, loud, you talk too much, you still don't listen to people and assume things."

Rachel raised an eyebrow: really, did she think this would obtain her forgiveness? Insulting her?

"But, after all you're not so bad. And anyway, when I talked about ammunition, I was talking about you knowing stuff about me," Santana continued, skipping on the positive things she could have listed about Rachel. "Like that I'm allergic to peanut"

"It's not like I'll try to kill you at school!" Rachel objected exasperated.

"Or that I have a t-shirt with the Pink Panther on it."

"Or that you had a crush on Ricky Martin," the diva piped up grinning.

"He was hot!" Santana defended herself.

"He was gay!" Rachel rebutted.

"He didn't come out until last year!" the Latina protested.

"Come on, it was so clear! No straight man has that pelvic movement!"

"So you think than Mr. Schue…" Santana imitated some of the teacher's dance moves.

"Santana Penelope Lopez," Rachel scolded her, pretending to be appalled.

"This was the kind of ammo I was talking about," Santana scowled at Rachel using her middle name, but her eyes were dancing with mirth.

"Well, with that kind of hair I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little bi," Rachel conceded to her, after an exaggerated display of thinking.

They both burst out laughing.

ooooo

"Who was the 25th president of the United States?

A: Woodrow Wilson B: Abraham Lincoln C: William McKinley D: Theodore Roosevelt"

"McKinley," Santana and Rachel shout at the same time at the television.

They glanced at each other, then focused again on the quiz show , determined to outdo the other at the next question.

"Put these foreign languages in the correct order, from the most studied in the United States to the least studied,"

Rachel scanned the languages and stated "Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Russian."

Santana stared at her openmouthed as the host announced the right combination "How…" she tried to ask, but her words failed her.

Rachel beamed at her "I pride myself on my extensive culture."

Santana rolled her eyes and looked back at the television, what for the next question.

"How many teeth does an adult dog have?"

"How am I supposed to know that?" Rachel whined "Let's me think, they have canines…"

"42" Santana answered.

"You cheated!" Rachel accused her.

"I didn't!"

"There is no way you could have known the answer!"

"Why not? Because you didn't? I had a dog, you know?"

"And you counted his teeth? Please! Give me your phone!"

"What? No!" Santana cradled her cell to her chest.

"I bet that I'd find out something interesting on your browsing history."

"Like I wouldn't have deleted it. If I had cheated, I mean, because I didn't," Santana stumbled to correct herself.

"I have my ways, you know. I bugged the auditorium to discover who wasn't pulling their weight during Glee practice, I totally could hack your phone," Rachel stood up and stormed out of the living room.

"You did what?" Santana yelled after a moment, when she realized what Rachel had said.

ooooo

Santana opened the door to find Shelby Corcoran on the other side.

"Rachel isn't here," the girl immediately said, hoping that it would spare her an uncomfortable situation.

"Can I come in?"

Santana sighed, knowing that she couldn't say no: it was Rachel's mother in Rachel's house, after all.

Shelby sat down on the couch, before gesturing to Santana to join her.

"I'd like to talk to you."

The girl looked at her suspiciously, but complied.

"We know that both of us hurt Rachel."

Santana glared at her, wondering how much the woman knew, but Shelby smiled " Rachel values honesty very much. And I'll admit that as much as it sometimes hurts and it's unpleasant, it's a good policy."

The girl grudgingly nodded, agreeing.

"Anyway, I'm not leaving her again, not even if she asks me to do it. I'm going to stick by her for a long time, I don't know about you."

"Me too," Santana surprised herself with the force and the truthfulness of her statement.

"Good," Shelby looked at her pleased. "So I propose we bury the hatchet. I hurt her, you hurt her, but it won't make any good if we try to get back at each other for hurting Rachel, it will only upset her. We should concentrate on making it up to her without getting in each other's way… we could even work together sometimes."

Santana looked at the woman seated in front of her. She could totally see Rachel's determination and long winded speeches in her, other than the striking physical resemblance, obviously. It seemed that her mother was right, Shelby really loved Rachel. And who was Santana to mess it up? From what she had told her, Rachel always wanted a mother, but she never said anything fearing to upset her fathers… the same fathers who were never at home and missed her birthdays. Santana wouldn't deny Rachel to possibly to have at least one loving and present parent in her life. Not to mention that she didn't want to endanger their relatively new friendship (Santana didn't want to admit it at the time, but they were already friends before the big fight, and now Rachel was quickly becoming her best friend)by antagonizing her mom.

Plus, she was serious when she said that she planned to stay around for a long time, and that implied inevitably interacting with Shelby.

And the fact that Shelby treated her as an equal, talking to her like an adult and not in a patronizing tone that often people adopted with teenagers didn't hurt at all.

"Okay," Santana nodded.

"Just for your information, if you hurt her again, you'll think Sue Sylvester is a loving nanny after I`m finished with you," Shelby said, keeping an amiable tone.

"And you'll find out why I'm the head bitch in charge at McKinley, and people duck at my passing," Santana retorted.

They scrutinized each other, assessing the reliability of the menaces.

"Really, they duck?" Shelby finally asked, curious.

With that, both assured of the good intentions of the other, they started exchanging tips on ruling their minions.

Shelby looked at her watch "Do you know where Rachel is?" she asked, seeing that her daughter didn't arrive.

"Wait a moment." Santana left the room and after few minutes she came back with sheet in hand. "Let me see…"

"She made you a color-coded timetable?" Shelby asked amused.

"I complained that she always knew where I was, and by the way, I still have to know how she does it, while I lose track of her billions of activities. After a lengthy discussion she agreed to write her schedule down and I conceded that her memory is better than mine," Santana said, remembering Rachel's pride for her 'elephantine memory'.

"Do you always fight over everything?"

"We don't fight. We simply have healthy arguments, it keeps a relationship alive." Santana groaned, realizing what words she had used and how they seemed to hint at something more than friendship. "I'm spending too much time with Rachel, soon I'll start to talk quoting songs too! Anyway, why did you need Rachel?" she tried to diverge the attention from her.

Shelby fought back a smile "I wanted to asked her if she could watch Beth tomorrow, I have a meeting and I can't bring her."

"I don't think there will be a problem." Santana looked at the timetable. "Tomorrow afternoon she only has dance at 3, but I'm sure that if you need her sooner she'll think up something. She loves Beth."

"And Beth loves her. Do you mind asking her anyway? Maybe she has some other arrangements."

"I would know it," Santana cut her short and Shelby didn't want to jeopardize their recent agreement by suggesting that she could have a date that she didn't tell her friend about: Shelby didn't know why, but she had the feeling that it wouldn't have gone down well with the girl.

"Will you let me know?" Shelby ignored Santana's outburst.

"Sure. Is there anything I should know?"

"What?" Shelby asked confused.

""You know, in the case I'm alone with Beth for whatever reason…"

Shelby smiled at her "Do you have anywhere to write? Rachel already knows it, but I don't think she wrote it down."

"Go figure, freaking memory!" Santana mumbled "And I suppose there are a lot of things that I need to know."

Shelby continued to smile at her.

"Naturally, you're Rachel's mom, after all," Santana shook her head good naturally. "Go, I'm ready"

oooooo

"I can't believe it's been almost a year," Santana looked at Rachel feeding Beth.

"I know, so many things have changed." Rachel agreed.

"Like?"

Rachel looked at her incredulous, but answered anyway. "I have a friend, a mother, a sister."

"We won Regionals…it's a pity that we couldn't beat Vocal Adrenaline when Jesse St. Asshole was still there."

"Santana!" Rachel scolded her.

"It's true!" the girl protested, looking pointedly at her friend, daring her to deny it.

"Not in front of the baby, watch your mouth."

"Sorry" Santana shrugged "But it's still true… can I say buttface?" she asked, enjoying riling Rachel up.

"Santana…" the shorter girl shot her a stern look, while Beth burped.

The Latina girl grinned but let it down "Glee survived another year of Sue's attempts at its life."

"We are gonna win Nationals next year," Rachel continued.

"And why is that?" Santana asked curious at this proclamation.

"Well, first year we won Sectionals, the second year Regionals, it's only logical that next year we will win the Nationals."

"Mama."

"Mama will be coming later, now we are going to take a nap, aren't we?" Rachel spoke to Beth.

"Is she supposed to talk?" Santana frowned, while Rachel was putting her down in the crib "I mean, doesn't babies start talking after the first year?"

"Precocious children can start at 8-9 months, so she is normal."

"Normal for you, you mean! But again, probably you talked to her all the time and she had to start talking early just to interrupt you."

"It's not funny" Rachel glared at her.

"I think it is," Santana snickered. "I'm sure that when she will be five she'll know more words than Finn. Not that it`s difficult," she added after thinking about it. "Probably even more than me."

Rachel's retort on how she shouldn't be proud of it and should do something to rectify the situation died on her lips, as she was entranced by the sight of a sleeping Beth.

"Preciosa," Santana whispered reverently.

The two girls leaned on the crib. Rachel tucked her hair behind her ears, so that they wouldn't tickle the baby.

"I think it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," she said, turning her head towards Santana.

As Santana copied her movement, they found their faces separated only by few inches. They stared at each other, then they both jumped back, blushing wildly.

"I'll go to tidy up the kitchen," Rachel squealed, as Santana muttered "I'm going to… the bathroom"

ooooo

"What do you think you are doing?" Leonor asked, hands on her hips.

"Watching TV," Santana answered, rolling her eyes for the obviousness of the reply.

"I don't think so." The woman snatched away the control. "There is my favorite show, and I have no intention to watch it with two vultures who criticize everything and spend the remaining time bickering with each other"

Seeing that the two girls giving no sign to move, she took her daughter's hand and she pulled her up. She did the same with Rachel.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Leonor said to them, as they hovered by the couch "Shoo! ¡zape! Hush!" she waved her hand.

"Did my mom just throw us out of the living room?" Santana turned to Rachel, incredulous.

"The right question is: did YOUR mom just throw us out of MY living room?" Rachel retorted.

"I think she did," Santana said.

"I can hear you!" Leonor yelled.

"Me too." Rachel shot a look at living room "Want to go to my room?"

Santana plopped on Rachel's bed. Hearing a crumpling sound she looked at the wrinkled sheets .

"Please, tell me this isn't for Glee! Rachel!" she exclaimed exasperated "We have yet to finish this school year and you are already thinking about the next one?"

"Nationals won't get conquered by themselves."

"I know, but… I simply don't understand. With everything else you are normal, well, as normal as you can get, you're still more focused than all the school together… but with Glee you're like obsessed, you get crazy… more than usual, I mean"

Rachel looked at Santana, knowing that she was genuinely curious and….worried?

She joined her on her bed.

"For some Glee is just fun. For others, it's more credit for their college applications. For me, it's my future. Singing is what I want to do and Glee is my first step. I want our performance to be perfect because what if someone sees us? No actors will ever win an Oscar with a poor movie, a singer needs a great band to support him." Rachel took a breath "People make fun of me uploading video on MySpace. Do you know how many talents have been discovered recently on the Internet and signed up?"

"Many?" Santana answered unsure.

"And maybe before Glee was everything I had… look, you're in the same situation. And before you say that, I know that you don't know what you want to do after high school. But you know one thing, right?"

Santana nodded. "I want to leave this hellhole."

"Exactly. And to do that, you need to be a Cheerio. And you put up with Sue Sylvester's insane antics, Saturday and sometime Sunday practices, a crazy starving diet…"

"I think I understand," she interrupted Rachel's list. "But you're still crazy."

Rachel elbowed her in the stomach.

"Ouch, what the hell, it hurts." Santana rubbed the sore spot.

"Aren't you supposed to have steel abs?" Rachel teased her.

"Not when I'm relaxed!" Santana protested, insulted.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Santana scooted over to avoid another blow. "Kidding, ask away."

"It's about Brittany."

"We are not together and we only slept together a handful of times," Santana immediately said.

"This wasn't what I was going to ask, but it's good to know." Rachel widen her eyes when she realized that she has said the last part aloud, and hurried to continue. "I wanted to ask… at school you act like best friends, but you didn't tell her."

Both girls knew that she was talking about their living arrangement.

"Not that you needed to, but I think I would have said it to my best friend… but then, again, I've never had a best friend, so I can't exactly tell you how you should behave with her."

Santana squeezed Rachel's hand, trying to convey with her gesture and her eyes that now she had a best friend.

The shorter girl smiled at her and continued. "Anyway, I can understand why you never invited her over, but you didn't go to hers as often as I expected"

"How do you know so much about the things I do?" Santana propped up leaning on her hand, while the other was still covering Rachel's.

"I have my sources," Rachel smiled cryptically.

Santana leaned down again, not having really expected a real answer.

"I should start from the beginning. Brittany was my first friend, when the others thought that I was some illegal clandestine or shit. Even then she never came to my house, you know, because of that man." Rachel put her head on Santana's shoulder, trying to comfort her: they had a silent deal and they never talked about their fathers, even if Santana never considered the man who married her mother as her father. "And when things at home went out of control I'd go to her house. When we grew up and people started to make fun of her and call her names, I decided to step up and repay her. At school if she sticks by me, they leave her alone, but outside, everyone has their life. She has dance lessons, other friends…"

"Oh." For once Rachel is speechless, she wasn't expecting this.

"But she is a great friend, I know that I can count on her for everything and vice versa. And we had sex because we were curious , but after some times she decided that she preferred boys… I know that people think I'm a slut, but…"

Rachel put her finger on Santana's lips, storing away for later pondering Santana's eagerness to explain her sex-escapades with Brittany. "Borrowing your words for a second, you may be a bitch, but not a slut, I know that."

They grinned at each other.

"It's strange hearing you swear."

Rachel scoffed "Just because I don't put such vulgar words in every phrase, it doesn't mean I don't know them. Anyway, I wanted to say that it's okay if you want to tell her or invite her over. If you want that, of course."

As they continued talking, even after Santana's mom wished them a good night, reminding them that the next day she wouldn't be at home, at the end they fell asleep. The morning would be the first of many others to see them waking up in the same bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Santana felt a kiss on her forehead and groaned. "Go away, mama!" She rolled on her other side.

 "Okay, I wanted to invite you to inaugurate the pool, but I'll do it alone."

"Rachel?" Santana cracked her eyes open.

"Good morning," the girl smiled brightly at her. "If you are interested I could make you a shake so that you won't have an empty stomach, but you won't have to wait before taking a bath"

"Ugh." Santana grumbled something intelligible, nodding.

"I'll call you when your breakfast is ready," Rachel said leaving the room.

Santana stretched out, before falling on the bed again. Waking up in Rachel's room, in Rachel's bed, wasn't as strange as she could have expected.

She thought back over the evening's events.

Her mom taking possession of the living and chasing them away, it was what she always imagined would happened if she had a sibling, but for some reason it felt wrong thinking about Rachel as a sister.

And the talks that followed… it was never like that at the sleepovers she had. Brittany was sweet and cute, but you couldn't really talk to her, not serious talk, and while she had a good grasp on people feelings it wasn't what Santana was interested in and the blonde strayed from the subject easily anyway.

With Quinn she was always competing and like at the Cheerios' sleepovers, she had to watch her back constantly.

Last night was different. It was fun and serious at the same time, she felt free to say whatever she wanted, without fear of being judged or teased.

"It's ready!" Rachel's shout interrupted her musing.

"Coming," she yelled and without bothering to change from last night's clothes she staggered to the kitchen.

"Here," Rachel handed her a glass.

"How can you be so chirpy in the morning?" Santana grumbled: it was worse than the mornings before school.

"Oh, I've been up for hours," Rachel shrugged.

The Latina looked at the clock on the wall. "I don't want to know."

"Come on, grumpy bear, go put a swimsuit on, or I won't wait for you."

Santana was already halfway up the stairs when she stopped in her tracks. "Don't ever call me that again!" she yelled, before stomping into her room, followed by Rachel's laughter.

"This is heaven." Santana was floating on her back towards Rachel, who was leaning against the border of the pool, arms spread behind her. "Why haven't we done this before?" she asked, joining the other girl.

"My dads thought that if I had a pool always available my friends would have been here constantly and I would have neglected school. Not that it was going to be a problem, since I didn't have friends, but they had already stipulated a contract to have the pool prepared every year when the school is almost over, and I didn't care about changing it… it's not so much fun anyway, when you're alone"

"So… is Puck your pool boy?" Santana asked changing the topic: she hated how Rachel sounded resigned to her loneliness and thinking how it was her fault too… she could kick herself.

"Please! With his reputation I don't think that they would have let him around when I was at home alone… I doubt he was even in business at the time, it's a firm no."

"Santana?" Rachel called, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Si?"

"I heard your mom saying that your house is…well, that it's habitable even if it's not completely finished, and…I…"

"Rach, breathe," Santana put her hands on Rachel's shoulder, hearing her struggling with words.

"What would you think if I'd ask your mom to stay here until your house it's finished?"

"I'd think it's perfect. I would be here all the time anyway" she smiled, and felt Rachel relaxing under her hands.

Rachel saw the smile changing into a smirk, and before she had the time to react she was pushed under the water.

When she remerged spluttering water she glared at Santana "This is war!"

ooooo

"Leonor, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, you don't even have to ask. What 's the matter?" The woman looked at the nervous girl.

"I" Rachel took a deep breath "I'd like for you to stay here until the work at your house is completed. I love having you and Santana around, and now that it's summer and I don't have school anymore I get so lonely in this house… and here you wouldn't have noises or dust, and…"

"We won't be boiling. Here we have the pool, the A/C…"

Leonor was ready to lecture her daughter on how it wasn't nice to talk like that, when she saw Rachel smiling gratefully at Santana.

"Do you want to stay here?"

"Yes," Santana simply said, plopping down on her seat and starting drinking her shake.

The woman looked at the two girls: Rachel was looking at her hopefully and Santana was feigning disinterest, but her mother knew better.

"Vale, we're staying."

"Thank you!" Rachel leaped up to hug her.

Leonor returned the hug before playfully shoving her away. "Go shower, you stink."

"Okay, okay, no need to be violent." Rachel sighed dramatically, raising her hands "I'm going. Pool later?" She turned to Santana.

"Do you need to ask?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"Remind me why I asked you to remain here?" Rachel muttered leaving the room.

"Hurry up, I don't like to wait!" Santana yelled at her.

Leonor shook her head smiling.

 

"You have a great body, you should show it off more."

Rachel looked at Santana, while she was slowly plunging into the pool.

"It's true," Santana shrugged; she had come to term with finding Rachel attractive some time ago.

"And what exactly should I do?"

"For starters, wear your real clothes"

"I'm doing that."

"I'm talking about school."

"I don't know" Rachel looked dubious, thinking about her favorite clothes ruined by slushies.

"I'll protect you." Santana read in her mind. "No, really, if someone only think about slushying you I'll kick their ass… or even insulting you." she added "Next year will be different, I promise you."

Rachel didn't say anything overwhelmed by her feelings and trying to not delude herself if Santana wouldn't be able to keep her word.

"So, where do you go every morning?"

Rachel smiled at her gratefully for the distraction "I run."

"You run?" Santana asked surprised, before her mother's comment and Rachel's amazing shape hit her.

"Well, the elliptical is in my room, and I know that you wouldn't be too happy to be woke up at 7 every day by the noise… so I go running, besides, it's not like it's cold. Running in the park is quite enjoyable, I must say."

"You wake up at 7 every morning?" Santana stared at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, because it's summer. During school it's 6 o'clock."

"You're crazy."

oooooo

Santana woke up grumpy. She didn't get her usual morning kisses from Rachel and that got her irked more that she could think.

She dragged herself downstairs. When she heard a pained hiss her head shot up: Rachel was sitting on the couch, leg stretched out and a grimace on her face.

Santana's head cleared immediately from any residual sleepiness.

"What happened?" in two steps she was at Rachel's side.

"Nothing." Rachel gritted out.

"Bullshit," Santana spat out, kneeling ."Let me see"

Rachel looked away, while Santana moved her leg.

"Shit." Santana breathed out: the outer part of Rachel's leg was scraped, completely caked in blood and dirt.

"What happened?" the Latina asked again, "And don't lie to me, you know that I can tell."

"I fell."

"From my experience, and trust me, I have a lot, because Sue's practices are exhausting, when you fall running you fall on your knees… this is like… like someone pushed you"

Santana took Rachel's chin with her hand, turning her so that she was looking on her eyes.

"Did someone push you?"

Rachel nodded.

"Why?"

"Please, like you need a reason! I'm Rachel Berry!" she said as if her name explained everything.

"Who?" Santana asked gritting her teeth.

"You never know. It's not like there's any proof that I didn't trip by myself, and anyway, when you recover from the shock and the pain of the fall they had already disappeared."

"How can you be so calm?" Santana shouted standing up, clenching her fists.

"I have the elliptical for a reason." Rachel simply stated.

Santana sat down near her, hugging her from behind. "I'm sorry."

"I'm glad," Rachel murmured from her one arm's hug.

"Are you sure you didn't fall on your head?" Santana looked at her like she was crazy.

"Your reaction states clearly that you never took part in this," Rachel smiled at her. It missed her usual brightness, but it was more sincere that the ones she wore at school anyway.

From that night they stopped hanging around Rachel's room, replacing her bed with Santana's one, so that Rachel would be free to use her elliptical in the morning without waking Santana.

ooooo

"What's your program?"

"Uhm?" Santana looked at Rachel, who was lying beside her on her bed.

"For this summer." Rachel specified.

"Oh, I don't know. What do you do usually?"

"All my courses are over, because apparently people think that you can get good without constant application, that they don't need to have lessons during summer… anyway, I practice by myself, I soak in the pool, I sunbathe, I read… nothing more. Well, this year I suppose I'll spend time with Beth and Shelby."

"Last summer I spent every day at the public pool, but now… at the end of the summer you'll be sick of me."

"That will never happen." Rachel denied forcefully.

"Ditto."

oooooo

Santana and Rachel were in Shelby's living room while the woman was bustling around the TV.

"Here." she finally announced when the first photo compared on the screen.

"Wow, you did things in a big way," Rachel commented, seeing that photos flowed accompanied by music and writing.

"It's not like I had many things to do. And I never do anything half-hearted," Santana snickered at this, nudging Rachel, who was leaning against her.

"Beth won't remember it, but she'll like watching her first birthday party," Rachel said, smiling as a photo with Santana holding in her arms Beth, both of them with a party hat. "You're so cute," she giggled.

"Shut up," Santana grumbled. "I'm not cute."

"I think you are. Don't you agree?" Rachel asked her mom.

"Don't involve me in your tiff, girls."

As they continued watching the photos, Rachel noticed the thoughtful look on her mother's face.

"What is it, mom?"

Shelby looked at her, once again surprised by her daughter's observation skill.

"Do you think I'm sheltering her?"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, looking at Santana to see if she understood, but the girl shook her head.

"That day there were you two, Santana's mom and me…she has never been with other children of her age."

"Mom," Rachel began carefully "I grow up alone, without friends. I never had anyone outside my parents at my birthday parties when I was little. And not because I didn't invite them. And I didn't turn out so bad. And anyway, when she'll start going to the nursery she'll make tons of friends. Everyone will love her, like everyone love her parents, all of them." she reassured her, thinking how at the start she was ignored or bullied because of her gay parents, and not because of her personality and how popular and respected were both Quinn and Puck, Beth's biological parents, and Shelby too.

Nobody added anything at this statement, both knowing it was true and missing the words to comfort Rachel for years of abuses and both feeling somewhat, directly or indirectly, responsible.

ooooo

When Santana woke up and opened her eyes she was surprised to see Rachel beside her. She rubbed her eyes to make sure that Rachel was really there: it was the first time she woke up before her, she had to be dead tired.

She pondered over whether to wake the other girl or not, deciding at the end that Rachel wouldn't have been happy to lose all morning. She leaned towards her and kissed her softly on the forehead.

Waiting to see if Rachel gave sign of life, Santana remembered a conversation.

" _Why do wake me up with kisses?"_

_Rachel stopped reading her book at the random question "Oh." she put the book down, and sat on the deckchair._

" _You are always grumpy in the morning, and the first time I didn't know how to wake you up, I mean, I thought about calling your name or shaking you, but I didn't want to frighten you or have you getting out of bed on the wrong side… and I loved it when I was little and dad did it. But if it makes you uncomfortable I can stop, tell me how do you want me to wake you up and I'll do it, or I'll simply set the alarm if"_

" _Rachel," Santana interrupted her rant, "I love it. I was just curious, but don't you dare stop."_

" _Oh," Rachel didn't say anything else before returning to her book, sneaking a peak every now and then of the tanned girl sunbathing next to her._

As Rachel didn't move, Santana left a kiss on her right cheek, then on her left. She continued to kiss random places on Rachel's face, curious to see when she would wake up. She would have never guessed Rachel could be such a heavy sleeper, rather she thought she would have been one of those people who woke at the slightest sound. But she should have suspected it, the tiny diva had to take her endless energy somewhere.

Emboldened Santana brushed her lips against Rachel's. As it didn't get a reaction she repeated the gesture a couple of time, each time lingering a little more. She lost herself in the sensation, and she had no idea that Rachel had opened her eyes, until she flickered her eyes up on Rachel's face and saw brown eyes gazing back at her.

Santana started to withdraw and apologize, when Rachel, with a quickness of reflexes that Santana didn't think possible for someone only just awake, grabbed her head and smashed their lips together.

Santana expected their kiss to be tender and sweet, made of pecks and languid strokes, because she was Rachel (not that she gave any thought to it). Rachel expected the same, because it was their first kiss, because they were both girls…

The passion in the kiss surprised them both, as their tongues engaged in a fight for domination.

If their brain hadn't shut down, they would have been grateful for years of cheerleader and singing practices and training: used to singing or cheering while dancing, they were able to continue kissing, without breathing problems that would have interrupted the most mind-blowing kiss of their life.

When oxygen finally became an issue and they felt like their brains were going to explode from the lack of it, they pulled apart.

Santana, who was on the top of Rachel, fell down on the bed. "Wow."

"I see your wow and raise it with a double wow, " Rachel put her head on Santana's shoulder.

"Do you play poker?"

"No, but I like the saying," Rachel said, smiling, even if Santana couldn't see her.

As Santana laughed the charged atmosphere relaxed.

"Damn, I was already imagining our strip-poker games."

"I'm sure that you can find other ways to get me naked," Rachel surprised herself by purring in Santana's ear. She blushed as the girl looked at her with wide eyes and when Santana's mom called them she seized the opportunity and leaped out of the bed, escaping Santana's arms and practically running out of the door.

Santana covered her eyes with her arm: the kiss woke her up completely, but she hated thinking early in the morning. Even if it was, she opened her eyes to look at the alarm, half past ten.

She groaned, trying to clear her thoughts.

That she was attracted by girls was nothing new. Brittany was the one that decided she was straight, after their experiment, she found out the opposite, even if she wasn't adverse to go back to boys sometimes.

That she was attracted to Rachel was nothing new either. It would have been impossible not to be, after seeing her in her skimpy bikini…beside even Quinn fucking Fabray admitted once, under the influence of alcohol, she would claim, that 'Man-hands' was hot in those criminally short skirts.

And Rachel was her best friend, so it wasn't just a physical thing.

She had for Rachel feelings that went over the friendly ones, she admitted that, there were no problems, but what about Rachel?

Nobody kissed like that if there wasn't any attraction, so on that side she was pretty sure. And Rachel didn't seem opposed to repeating the experience and possibly going further than just kissing.

"Santana," her mom's shout interrupted her musing.

"Coming," she yelled in response, before mumbling, "Well, not right now, unfortunately."

She shook her head to dismiss her dirty thoughts: she needed a plan. Rachel knew her better than anyone else, but more importantly, Santana knew Rachel almost better than herself.

She sat down at the table, continuing following her train of thoughts.

Rachel had dated three people. Finn and Puck were football players, but not Jesse. Jesse and Puck had stupid hair, but Finn hadn't. Finn was dumb, Puck and Jesse intelligent. The only things they had in common were that they were assholes, males, and could sing pretty well.

Regarding the first part, Santana could easily let lose her not-so-inner bitch, but she was sure that Rachel didn't look for that particular quality in her dates. She was just unlucky.

She knew that Rachel never ruled out the possibility of falling in love with a girl, one of the few things Santana was grateful to her fathers for.

And she could sing too, even if she had no intentions to serenade Rachel. It was an overworked trick anyway.

But she knew Rachel, she knew what she dreamed, what she wanted-

"Hija, estas bien?" her mom put her hand on her forehead, to feel if she had a temperature.

"I'm fine, mama," Santana ducked her head.

Leonor frowned before smiling slightly: her baby always hated being fussed over. "Vale, I have some errands to do, do you need anything?" she asked gathering her purse and her keys.

Both girls shook their head.

"Vale, see you later."

The two girls remained silent, Santana sipping her juice and Rachel fidgeting in her seat: she wanted to apologize to Santana for kissing her and then running away, she knew how bad she felt when Finn did it to her, but she didn't want Santana to think that she regretted kissing her.

"I have two questions for you," Santana put down her glass.

Rachel looked at her surprised and nodded meekly.

Santana licked her lips, then she passed an hand on them to wipe them.

"Do you want to go on a date next week?" Santana saw a smile blossoming on Rachel's face and didn't wait for her answer. "And," she swallowed, smothering the nervousness she would never admit to feel ,"will you be my girlfriend?"

Rachel stood up nodding, a brilliant smile stretching her lips "I have a question too." She took a step towards Santana. "Can I kiss you?"

"You have too," Santana said. She pulled her between her legs, looking up at the girl, who for the first time towered on her, since she was still seated. She repeated, knowing that she seemed like a grinning fool. "You have too."


	5. Chapter 5

"Don't count on us for dinner, mama."

"Why not?"

"We are going out, we can't always stay shut up here."

Leonor sighed: this surely was different from the previous year, when Santana would go out every night… and it would be good for Rachel some diversion. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Si, mama," Santana rolled her eyes: her mother was paranoid since Quinn got herself pregnant.

oooo

The two girls came to a halt, a hand still on their respective door handle, admiring the unusual sight of the other in a dress.

Rachel took a step towards Santana, and the girl offered her hand. "Are you ready?"

Rachel smiled shyly and nodded, "Where are we going?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. "

.

"Wow, Santana, this place is beautiful, how did you find it?" Rachel asked looking around.

"I did my research. I wanted this date to be perfect."

"It is."

"I know, you in a dress would have been enough to make this day unforgettable." Santana looked satisfied as Rachel blushed.

"Thank you Santana, you're breathtaking too."

"This is strange." Rachel stated suddenly in the middle of the dinner.

"Why?" Santana tensed, afraid that Rachel was regretting accepting her invite.

"I've never been so comfortable during a date." Rachel smiled and Santana relaxed. "But I've never dated my best friend either."

"I can't say anything, I've never been on a date," Santana said quietly, looking in her plate.

"What?" Rachel exclaimed, then she lowered her voice. "How is that possible?" she covered Santana's hand with her own.

"Well, with Brittany it was nothing serious, and the others wanted other things," she fumbled with her words, fearful of Rachel's judgment.

"We have to rectify the situation immediately!" Rachel was upset, but not for the reasons Santana feared "I'll take you out on a date as soon as possible."

"You want to take me out on a date?" Santana repeated, surprised at the notion.

"Santana, we've got to make something clear, if we want this relationship to work." Seeing that she had Santana's undivided attention she continued, pleased. "I don't believe in the division of roles in a couple. I hate couple where one takes the male role and the other the female. It's a male chauvinist heritage, unworthy to be perpetrated by people who are supposed to be free from any cliché . You may have a tendency towards violence and coarse language similar to the stereotypical boy, but if I wanted a boy, I wouldn't be here with you."

"And that means taking you out and paying for you." Rachel added after a few second.

"I got it. To sum it up, you want us to be equal in this relationship."

Rachel smiled at her. Jesse talked almost as much as her and everything was about him, Finn didn't understand half of the things she said, and Noah simply stopped listening to her after few minutes. Santana really listened and understood and-

"I know, I'm perfect for you," Santana joked, but Rachel was inclined to believe it.

"We should go, it's an hour drive to Lima, and I'd like to have a long good-night kiss when we arrive at home."

"Only a kiss?" Rachel teased her, before falling silent.

"What is it?" Santana asked after having paid the check.

"Do you want to…. tell people about us when we get home?"

"Do you want to?" Santana turned the question around.

"I… can we keep it to ourselves for some time? It's just that we went from hating each other, well, you hating me, to Glee mates, from living together and ignoring each other to friends, then best friends, and now girlfriends."

"I understand."

"I don't want to think that I'm ashamed and that I want to keep it hidden, I'm overly proud that you are my girlfriend."

"Rachel," Santana slid an arms around the shorter girl's waist, guiding her towards the car. "I understand, really, we just need time to cope with it, it's okay," she said, careful to use the plurals. "Beside it's not like I ever went around flaunting my private life to my mom."

"Thank you," Rachel gave a sigh of relief, berating herself for thinking that just because Santana was now her girlfriend things would have changed: she should have know that the Latina would have be chill with it "I don't want to lie to your mother."

"We won't. We'll have to be careful with PDA, and at the right time, we'll tell her," Santana reassured her, opening the car's door for Rachel.

oooo

They entered in the house silently, careful not to wake up Santana's mom, they climbed the stairs and stopped in front of Rachel's bedroom. Santana leaned towards Rachel, kissing her.

When they emerged for air, Rachel stifled a giggle.

"What is it?" Santana asked with an indulgent smile.

"I've never dated someone who lived with me, this gives the whole 'kissing at the door after a date' a new sense. Or whom I already sleep together, for what it matters."

"I'll go," Santana pointed towards her bedroom, thinking that Rachel was gently letting her know that the rules had changed now that they weren't just friend.

"I'll change and join you," Rachel stood on tiptoe to brush her lips against Santana's. "Wait for me."

"Always," Santana murmured, before scowling to herself for her cheesiness.

oooo

The right time to tell Santana's mom didn't come until September.

When Leonor asked both girls to join her, both girls were dreading the talk that would have followed. Either if she was announcing that the house was finally ready or that she had found out about the girls and she wasn't happy, they knew that nothing good would have come from the conversation.

"I talked to your fathers, Rachel."

"Really? Are they coming home?" she asked excited, forgetting about her previous worries.

Santana exchanged a look with her mother, and when the woman shook her head, she put her arm on Rachel's shoulder, taking hold with her other hand of Rachel's hand.

"No, niña, lo siento."

"Oh." Rachel deflated: she wasn't really expecting a positive answer, they would have called her if they were coming, but for an instant the hope got the better of her rationality.

"They asked me and Santana to stay here to look after you and keep you company. I said that I would have asked you girls and then let them know. What do you think?"

"I'd like that," Rachel said quietly.

"Hija?"

"Me too."

"Vale, it's settled then."

"Wait!" Rachel stopped Leonor, who was already half-raised "There is something you need to know, before you decide."

Santana looked at Rachel, asking with her eyes if she was sure. Rachel nodded and squeezed her hand.

Leonor saw the exchange and sat down again, now more curious than ever.

"I think it's only fair that before you take a decision regarding your living arrangement for the next year, you have the knowledge of a situation that could affect your choice. I wouldn't have a clean conscience if we keep it from you more than we already have, because-"

"Rachel es mi novia, mama." Santana cut her rambling short.

Leonor looked at her daughter, then at Rachel, repeating the movements a couple of time "She is your girlfriend?" she finally asked.

"Yes" Santana answered, puffing out her chest as to challenge her, while Rachel nodded.

Leonor bit back a smile at her daughter's attitude "Can I have a moment to think about it?"

"Sure," Rachel stood up quickly, pulling Santana with her.

"Whatever you decide, it won't change anything," Santana said, and her mother knew that she was looking at her but she was in fact talking to Rachel.

.

"Girls."

The three inhabitants of the Berry's house were again reunited.

"I have thought about it," she stopped.

"And?" "Cut the tease, mama," both girls prompted her, anxious.

"And while I know that I can't impose an open door policy or any other rules, since this is not my house, we need to settle down some common lines on your behavior."

"Such as?" Santana frowned, while Rachel started smiling, realizing that she was going to have a live-in-girlfriend.

"No funny business outside the bedrooms."

"Mama!"

"Your bedrooms, not mine. Mine is off-limits," she added.

"We…we haven't…didn't…" Rachel spluttered.

Leonor smiled seeing the girls, and especially her daughter, flushing bright red, and in that moment you could see where Santana came from. "And you have been together since?"

"End of June." Rachel answered.

"And you've never..."

Rachel shook her head, Santana leaped on her feet. "Stop answering her for God's sake! It's none of her business!" she yelled, before storming out of the house slamming the front door.

"Are you in trouble?"

"She'll get over it."

"You know, she said the same thing when you had that big fight… and you didn't talk to her for weeks."

"I have my ways…. that she didn't have at the time," Rachel shrugged, before blushing when she realized what she had just told to her girlfriend's mother. "Sorry."

"I was having fun embarrassing Santana, but I'm glad that you're waiting… even if I know that it won't take much time anymore," Rachel avoided her eyes. "Just, don't hurt each other, please."

Rachel nodded, "We are trying, but it's hard."

"Like every relationship, niña."

Rachel stood silent for a while. "What are you doing with your house?"

"Since it's ready, and we won't use it…I was thinking about renting it out."

"Did they found out what happened?" the girl asked cautiously.

"Someone tampered with the piping, but we were already having problems with them, so when it didn't have the hoped effects, they set fire to the living room. We were lucky that the fire didn't reach our bedroom and destroy everything we had, but it seriously compromised the structural integrity of the apartment. This is why it took so long to fix everything"

"It was him, wasn't it?"

They both knew who Rachel was referring to.

"Santana seems to think so," Leonor looked at the girl's perplexed face. "And I think so too," she admitted.

"Any evidence?"

"Unfortunately not. He was seen around, and he knew the house, how to enter, the layout… but nothing else."

"So they just let him go away?" Rachel exclaimed, highly indignant.

"They reinforced the restraining order. He can't go near me or Santana, or our proprieties."

Rachel sighed in relief. She never had the misfortune to meet the man, but she remembered a time, when her fathers were still at home, how they pushed and encouraged Leonor to leave her husband, claiming that he was no good for her and for her child.

Just thinking about Santana being around that despicable excuse of a man gave Rachel chills. She knew that part of her attitude came from having to face him for years at home. The rest was just plain Santana Lopez original.

"Did you let them know that you're now staying here?" she asked, knowing that there was slim to no chance that he would show up there, but she couldn't help to be terrified if she let herself thought about it.

"Yes, and I'll remind them. Just to think that I could have avoided everything…" Leonor shook her head.

Rachel could see the guilt eating the woman away and she covered her hands.

"It's not your fault. Everyone makes mistakes. I know that it's not even remotely comparable, but when Jesse betrayed us, going back to Vocal Adrenaline after I did everything in my power to convince the others that he was sincere, I felt a worm. I was stupidly in love, I was so gullible that I would have chosen him over Glee…and sometimes I can't help to think that without all the drama caused by him, by us, we could have won Regionals. We would have been more able to concentrate on rehearsal, and less on petty revenge or my hurt feelings"

"That doesn't make much sense."

"Exactly," Rachel smiled a little. "I can't change my feelings, but rationally I know the truth, so they doesn't bother me so much. We did our best, but we were 12 while the others were at least twice our members. Not to mention that doing a tribute to the jury members was totally unfair, and against every rule." Rachel stopped, flushing a little. "I think you get the idea."

Leonor laughed a little. "I do." She stood up, patted Rachel's hand and smiled. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. And now, go, I think your girlfriend is back."

ooooo

"Santana?"

"Go away," the muffled reply came from the bedroom.

Ignoring the command, Rachel opened the door.

"Shouldn't you be with my mother, gossiping?"

"You know that she was baiting you."

"And you helped her."

Rachel sat on the bed. "Are you ashamed that after months we still haven't had sex?" Just because she chose to ignore the rumors, it didn't mean that she didn't know Santana's reputation.

"What? No!" the girl jumped up from her lying position. "We'll do it when we're ready."

"You mean when I'm ready." Rachel corrected her, self-deprecating.

"Querida, look at me." Santana put her hands on Rachel's cheeks, turning her head towards her. "I'm okay with waiting, really, I don't want you to think that... do you feel pressured?" she asked worried.

Rachel shook her head, her eyes still trying to avoid Santana. "But you…"

"I?" Santana frowned before realization dawned on her "Rachel, you're not like the others. This is not…this is different, special. I won't leave you because you won't put out, and even less I won't leave you after you do." she cringed at her crass words and she pulled Rachel in a hug. "I… I… I won't leave you, ever," she settled at the end, trying to convey all her love in those words.

They lied down on the bed, still embracing.

"Sorry for being stupid."

"It wasn't stupid!" Santana scolded her.

"Are you upset?"

"No, I'm not. Just never talk again with my mother of our private stuff, por favor."

"I can do that… it was decidedly uncomfortable anyway." Rachel let out a nervous laugh. "And while we are on the subject…do you want to tell Brittany?"

"I'll invite her over when she comes back." Santana agreed.

ooooo

"I don't want to talk about it," Santana anticipated her mother, entering in the kitchen.

"Okay, you'll just listen then."

Santana looked at Leonor, hearing her serious tone.

"She is good for you, and I can see that you are good for her too, and I'm glad that you're respecting her. I love you both, she is like a second daughter to me… so I'll just tell you what I told her: just don't hurt each other."

"We won't."

"Bueno." Leonor kissed her on the forehead. "When are you going to tell Shelby?" she chuckled at Santana's wide eyes. "You haven't thought about it, have you?"

oooo

"Why are you so nervous? She is just my mother!" Rachel whispered, putting her hand on Santana's thigh.

"I'm not nervous!" Santana hissed back.

"Sure, and your leg can't stay still because you're having a seizure." Rachel rolled her eyes at the denial.

"I'm not, I'm…"

"A fucking badass, I know," she patted her thigh good-naturally. "You sound just like Noah."

"Girls, why so serious?" Shelby entered the room, Beth on her hip.

"We need to tell you something."

"You aren't pregnant, aren't you?"

"What?" "No!" Santana and Rachel exclaimed at the same time.

"Thanks God," Shelby breathed out in relief. "What is it, then?"

"We are together." Rachel announced.

"Together, as in girlfriends? Dating and such?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay with it?" Santana asked cautiously.

"I gave my daughter to a gay couple, why wouldn't be okay with her dating another girl?" she looked amused. "Although the fact that you two live together…" she frowned a little: it would take some time to get used to her teenage daughter living together with her girlfriend. "Does your mom know?"

The girls nodded.

"Did she walk in on you?"

"No!"

"Please, don't ask any more," Rachel pleaded.

"I wasn't planning to, I don't want to know about your private matters."

"Thank God for small favors," Santana muttered.

"I'll tell you later," Rachel said in response at her mom's raised eyebrow.

"No, you won't." Santana glared at her, but as soon as she looked away Rachel grinned and nodded to Shelby.

"Do you think it's a good idea? You know, living together?" Seeing their confused faces the woman specified. "What if it doesn't work out?"

"We lived together without major problems when she hated me, when we were just friends and in those months of dating too."

"Besides, it will work." Santana added after Rachel finished speaking.

"You talked of months, so I suppose my objection of rushing into it doesn't stand. Girls, I don't want to be a party pooper, but have you thought about it? Now it seems everything is perfect and life is a bed of roses, but are you ready for what will come?"

"Mom, I know that I haven't had the highest rate of success in relationships."

"Baby, I'm not talking about the common hardship that every relationship faces, sooner than later. And I'm sure that you got a lecture from Leonor on that," she waited for the girls to nod, before continuing. "But until now you lived in a bubble, where there were just you two, and your mom." She pointed to Santana "And me and Beth… Soon you'll have to face the world. At your school people don't even know that you're friends, never less that you live together… What are you going to do? Are you planning to tell people?"

"We are going to tell Brittany, when she come back, before school starts."

"Brittany is your blonde friend, right?"

"The tall one, the other is Quinn," Santana added unnecessary, since Shelby would obviously know the biological mother of her child.

"And what about the others?"

"We are keeping it secret."

"Rachel is already bullied enough, and if I maintain my reputation and my social status I can continue to protect her."

Shelby could see their reasons, but something didn't sit down well with her. "So you're just going to ignore Rachel at school?"

"We are thinking to ask Brittany to hang out with Rachel, so everyone will assume that I'm doing it just for B… and hopefully it won't take much time before they will get used to see us together and we could at least act like friends."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Shelby conceded

"We're in this for the long run." Santana looked straight in Shelby's eyes, dead serious.

"Do you remember the conversation we had some time ago?"

"Yes."

"Good," Shelby nodded, her firm stance reflecting Santana's.

Rachel looked between her mother and her girlfriend. "Could someone tell me what is going on?"

"Nothing," they answered at the same time, finally breaking their eye-contact.

Rachel frowned. "If you say so," she said skeptical.

ooooo

"San?"

"Uhm," Santana continued trailing kisses along Rachel's collarbone, both girl clad in their underwear.

Rachel tugged at Santana's hair, prompting her to leave her chest and raise her head to Rachel's face.

"I'm nervous," Rachel whispered while Santana was nuzzling her neck.

"Why, querida?" Santana licked on her pulse point.

"I've never done it, and I know it hurts."

"Don't worry," she brushed her lips against Rachel's, then her cheek. "Besides, it hurts only the first-" Santana leaned on her arm, while with an hand she was still caressing her hip bone, looking at Rachel "But Finn said…" she said confused.

"I told him so" Rachel looked away, but immediately turned to look at Santana again "When did he tell you?"

"I asked him if he still felt guilty about doing it with me and he said that you did the same so you didn't have…" Santana stopped, feeling Rachel tensing underneath her.

"You slept with him," Rachel wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question, but Santana averting her eyes gave her the answer anyway. "Please, tell me that he wasn't with me"

"You were with Jesse at the time," Santana's feeble voice matched Rachel's one.

"I didn't want to appear like a stupid girl who was waiting for who-knows-what, and I lied to him and I felt so guilty and dirty after he told me that he was still a virgin."

"I'm sorry," Santana rolled away from Rachel.

They laid down, separated and silent for a while, until Santana felt Rachel move. Expecting the worst, she closed tightly her eyes, praying that she could hold back her tears until Rachel was out of the room. She jumped in surprise, when she felt Rachel's head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Santana repeated.

"It's not your fault, it's not you who lied to me," the pain in Rachel's voice was evident, as she thought how Finn dated her for months, after Regionals without telling her anything.

"I should have told you."

"I can't pretend to know every guy you went out with."

Santana smiled bitterly: with how Rachel phrased it, it almost seemed as she hadn't had sex with practically every guy 'she went out with' "Maybe you should."

"Santana…"

"I don't want you to be unready, if someone tell you something, I'm not proud of what I've done, but I don't want you to get hurt by my past."

"I don't think I can take anything else right now," Rachel whispered, hot tears trailing down her cheeks and falling on Santana's skin.

"Can we stay like this?" Santana asked softly: she was glad that her girlfriend, she thanked God that she could still call Rachel like that, was still there, and she didn't want to upset her by assuming that after that she was willing to cuddle with her practically naked.

"Please." Rachel scooted closer as Santana encircled her in her arms.

oooooo

"S?"

"Yes B?" Santana asked, patiently waiting for her blonde friend to start talking.

Brittany looked around the room a last time, before turning towards Santana. "Are you one of those crazy guys who follow around pretty girls, doing photos, and watching them and doing creepy things?"

"Do you mean a stalker?" Rachel butted in, before disappearing up the stairs.

"Oh my God, you kidnapped Rachel!" Brittany exclaimed, bringing her hands to her mouth.

"What? Why?" Santana looked at the blonde bewildered.

"You have all these photos, all of Rachel and… you were there for her fourth birthday?" she asked puzzled, before continuing, "and Rachel is here, she just passed, I saw her."

"Brittany, this is Rachel's home," Santana said calmly.

"Oh." Brittany thought for a moment. "Then why are you here?"

"I live here. And Rachel is my girlfriend." Santana decided to put everything on the table.

"I don't think I'm following you." the blonde stated confused.

"Why don't you move to the pool while Santana explains everything?" Rachel suggested,

"B?"

"I didn't bring a swimsuit."

"I'd offer you mine, but I'm sure that Santana's would fit you better."

"Let's go to my room. Rach, will you join us?" Santana stood up.

"I don't think so, I'm meeting my mom."

"Her mom?" Brittany followed Santana up the stairs. "Like Vocal Adrenaline's coach, mom?"

"Yes, Shelby."

"I missed a lot of things," the blonde pouted.

"Don't worry, I'll update you soon. Here, try this," Santana handed her a blue bikini. "But before I start talking, tell me about your summer"

"Oh!" Brittany tried to clap her hands excitedly, but she was still putting on her bikini, so she got tangled up in it. Undeterred she began speaking happily "I met this boy, he is a dancer, but he is from California, and there was Daniel, too, he is from New York and he was so cute, and he…"

Rachel smiled, hearing from outside the room the energized chatting, especially because it showed the clear interest Brittany harbored for the male gender.

"San, I'm going. Brit, it was a pleasure seeing you again, I hope we'll have a chance to talk next time," she said loudly.

"Bye Rach."

"See you later, querida!"

"What does that mean?" Rachel heard Brittany ask and she could imagine Santana blushing as she answered, "It means beloved in Spanish."

"Rachel knows Spanish?"

"Almost better than me. Are you ready for the pool?"

"I didn't know Rachel had a pool." Brittany took a towel from Santana.

"Me neither, not until I came to live here."

"Do you think she would let me use it sometimes?" the blonde looked across the garden with wide eyes.

"I'm sure that she'll love it."

"I always liked Rachel, but everyone was mean to her and I thought that I was doing something wrong if I liked her."

"About that. I need a favour."

Brittany spread her towel on her deckchair. "What?"

"Would you mind… could you be Rachel's friend at school?"

"You mean that I have permission to talk to her and sit with her at lunch?"

"Yes," Santana smiled at how excited Brittany seemed at the idea, like she had always wanted to do it, but she couldn't because what others would have thought. 'Because of me…' Santana thought bitterly, her smile fading.

"And you'll be there too?"

"Yes, but, B, nobody has to know about this."

"The pool?"

"No, about me living with Rach, or that she is my girlfriend."

"Okay." Brittany nodded "Why?"

"They won't like it, and they'll try to hurt us, or to break us up."

"Yeah, they are mean," the blonde nodded, "But we'll all be friends"

"Us three, yes," Santana confirmed.

"Cool!" Brittany splashed around. "Sooo…did you already do it?"

Santana stopped floating.

"What?" Brittany looked at her.

"Nothing, it's just…You are the only one who didn't assume that we were having sex."

"Well, when Rachel asked us about Jesse she didn't seem like she takes sex lightly," Brittany shrugged and Santana smiled at her insightful friend.

"But you're having sex," Brittany grinned "How is it?"

"Amazing," a smile threatened to split Santana's face. "And I don't think it's just because it's a recent thing, it's… I don't know how to explain it."

"Better than anything or anyone else?" Brittany offered.

"Fuck, yeah! No offense, with you it was really good, but with Rachel it's… different. Special." Santana halted, wishing for once to have Rachel's vocabulary.

"Because you love her," Brittany stated with certainty.

"Yeah," Santana widen her eyes, realizing what she had said. She frowned pondering about it, before nodding to herself. "Yeah, I love her."

Brittany smiled brightly. "I know."

 

  


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel sighed, opening her locker. It was almost lunch time and she still hadn't seen Santana.

The slave driver who answered to the name of Sue Sylvester had called an early practice at an ungodly hour of the first day of school, and Rachel didn't even get to see her girlfriend before leaving that morning.

They had celebrated their last day of freedom all night and in the morning she was so tired that she skipped her routine and she didn't heard Santana getting up for her Cheerio practice.

She would be content with very little, she just wanted to see her, making sure that she was okay. She needed to lay her hands on Santana's timetable and schedule, definitely.

"Rachel!" a happy voice called.

"Brittany, Santana," she turned and smiled brightly to the two Cheerios, particularly to the brunette.

As she was engulfed into Brittany's arms, Rachel heard Santana grunt a hello. The blonde hugged her even tighter, and giggling she whispered into her ear, "Don't mind her, she is just jealous that she can't hug you like me." She let her go. "See you at lunch, Rach," she said, before skipping away, dragging behind her a sulking Santana.

.

At lunch Rachel was sitting alone when she felt an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Rach, why aren't you eating?"

"I was waiting for you," she answered the girl next to her, but looking at Santana who sat down in front of her.

Santana bumped her legs against Rachel's, and the girl started busying herself, rummaging in her bag.

They were lucky that Rachel's staring could be put down to the shock of having the HBIC sitting at her table voluntarily and nobody would suspect that Santana's deepening scowl was because she couldn't touch or kiss her girlfriend and not because she was forced to spend time with the queen of Gleeks to humour her best friend.

Brittany looked confused as Rachel began to put on the table numerous plates and boxes.

"What? I packed yesterday evening because I was afraid to forget it in the morning rush," she said, looking pointedly at Santana.

The Latina looked down, fighting a smile because she had indeed forget to bring her lunch, before saying with her best Cheerio voice. "You don't mind if I help myself, do you? Besides, you're so tiny that it's not like you can eat everything by yourself if you don't plan to lose your figure."

Rachel shook her head mutely, thinking how the veiled insults of the previous years had left the room to veiled compliments, while everyone listening and watching the girls thought that she was simply too afraid to answer.

They started eating, conscious of the students attention on them, until Santana whistled loudly.

Rachel recoiled, and Santana was aware that she would get a lengthy lecture about hearing damages and how they would endanger Rachel's Broadway career, but all the room fell silent.

Santana stood up slowly.

"Hey, losers. Old losers, new losers. I'm going to say it once. There are rules in this school, and they are MY rules. From today there is a new one. The Glee club is off limits. If I ever sniff a slushie's trace on any members of the Glee club, there will be hell to pay. I hate whining, so I don't want to hear them complaining about anything ever again! Do you understand?" as nobody spoke she repeated, glaring around. "Do you understand?"

After receiving affirmative answers and nods from everyone she sat again, she grabbed an apple and started eating it like nothing happened, smirking as she heard the collective breath of relief.

"Now, they won't bother you anymore, Rach, are you happy?" Brittany asked, hugging the smaller girl who was still looking at the brunette cheerleader with awe and love in her eyes.

Santana frowned: she needed to talk to Brittany about all these affections towards her girlfriend.

Oooooo

"Please, tell me I'm not dreaming," Kurt brought his hands to his heart, in a theatrical pose.

"You're not dreaming," Finn said dumbly.

"Diva," Kurt put his hand on Mercedes's arm. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"You mean Rachel Berry dressed as a normal person?"

"Yes!" he stage-whispered, even if everyone in the room could hear him.

"I see it too," Mercedes confirmed.

"Finally! Have the fashion gods answered our prayers and burned your horrendous wardrobe?"

"Actually…" Rachel tried to answer, but Kurt cut her off. "Or maybe your fathers finally saw that their daughter was a cross between a toddler and a grandma and decided to intervene?"

Santana saw hurt flashing in Rachel's eyes at her fathers' mention.

"Aren't gays supposed know everything about fashion?" Finn asked, looking at Kurt.

"Poor guys," he shook his head.

"Rach!" Brittany ran after the girl who had left the room silently.

"You're assholes," Santana stood up "You're supposed to be a team… and you couldn't even wait until she wasn't here before you starting bitching."

"Please, just because Brittany decided that Berry is her new best friend it doesn't mean that things change," Quinn sneered.

"B might not be as intelligent as you, Quinn, but you know better than anyone else know that she is a great judge of character." She stopped to let everyone think about it. When she saw the realization in their eyes she continued. "Then what does it say that she chose Rachel to be her new best friend and not one of you?"

In a stunned silence she took her bag, and Brittany's and Rachel's ones too. She opened the door, but before leaving the room, she turned towards the Glee members.

"I stopped the slushies, I can start them again."

Ooooooo

"Mama?"

"Oh, Santana, come in," Leonor smiled at her daughter.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Cierto," she looked curiously at her, before going back to iron the sheets.

"What do Rachel's fathers do?"

"Excuse me?" she stopped.

"I mean, they are never here, and…"

"She didn't tell you?" she interrupted her.

"No, we don't talk about it."

Leonor disconnected the iron and sat down. "What does it mean, you don't talk about it?" she looked at her daughter.

"It's just a silent agreement, we don't talk about Rachel's fathers and we don't talk about him," she spat the last word, and Leonor knew immediately who Santana was referring.

"But you talk about everything else?" she asked, suddenly worried about her daughter's relationship.

"Yes."

"Everything?" she asked again "Also…" she let it linger.

"Yes, also about my less than stellar reputation."

"So she knows…"

"Do you want to know if she knows that I slept around? Yes, she knows!" Santana burst out, hurt by her mother's words.

"Sorry, it's… you know how lies can destroy a couple." Leonor took Santana's hand in hers.

"I know, but I don't like to talk about it, I'm not proud of it, and knowing that the two most important people in my life know about it," she trailed off.

"What do you want to know?" Leonor changed subject "I'll tell you what I can without betraying Rachel's confidence."

"Their job?"

"They are engineers, I think… I'm not sure. I know that they patented a machine that exploit these new energy, you know, solar, wind power… those kinds of things. They actually explained it to me, but I didn't understand much. Anyway, they are called all over the word to set up these systems."

"We talked about them at school… not about Rachel's fathers, about this ecological systems, I mean."

"Anyway, it started that they were away for a month, and then they would stay her for two or three months. Then it became three, four month away and one at home. Rachel was ten at the time, so I looked after her."

"So when you didn't come home to sleep, it was because you were here?" Santana asked, remembering these periods. "I thought you were looking after some baby…"

"In a way," Leonor nodded. "Since a couple of years they tend to take six months projects: Rachel knows how to look after herself, she can cook, she doesn't need someone at night anymore. I keep coming to look after the house, but majorly because Rachel is another daughter for me."

"This is awful!" Santana exclaimed. "When she talks about them at school she makes them appear so loving."

"Wait," Leonor raised her hand. "They love her. Really, Santana, they really love Rachel, she is the light of their eyes."

Santana looked at her unconvinced.

"It's just that Rachel is always so mature than they had forgotten that she isn't an adult but a young girl. How many parents would trust a teenager to live alone?"

Santana thought about it. "You know, now that you told me… it was in fifth grade that Rachel started to go crazy," she said with an affectionate smile.

Leonor rubbed her temples, unsure if she should disclosure something else or not.

"Santana, what I'm going to tell you is… you can't tell Rachel, okay? I don't know if she knows that I know, so, not a word, vale? If she wants she'll tell you."

"Okay," Santana straightened her posture, hearing the serious voice.

"This is Lima, and we all know that it's not the most open-minded town. Now they have stopped, probably because they aren't around anymore and people forget about them… but before there were a lot of calls… insults, menaces. And not just towards Rachel's dads. But towards Rachel too. Especially towards Rachel. I suppose they wanted to hit where it hurt the most."

"The children."

"Exactly. When Rachel's dads started traveling Rachel thought it was her fault. I know that it made no sense, to us, but she was convinced that if she behaved better then the phone calls would stop and her fathers would stay at home with her. She started cooking, cleaning the house, speaking like an adult, acting like a responsible adult all the time. And they were so impressed by it that they thought she could be trusted alone… and they started going away more often"

"It backfired," Santana stated.

"Completely."

"This explain lot of things."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she stood up. "Thank you, mama. I really didn't want to ask her. She gets this hurt expression every time someone mentions them."

Leonor stood up next to her and kissed her cheek. "I'm proud of you."

Ooooo

The Glee club was in the choir room, waiting for Mr. Schuester to arrive. Rachel shook her head: how were they supposed to be totally committed to the club when their coach was setting such a bad example, with his perpetual lack of punctuality?

She took a moment to look at the others.

Matt, Finn, Mike and Puck were chatting animatedly, probably about some inane matter.

Mercedes, Kurt, Quinn, Artie and Tina were huddled together, whispering and occasionally casting a look towards the boys or Brittany and Santana, who were holding pinkies and staring straight ahead, probably trying to recovering from a tiring Cheerios practice.

Although everyone was notably nicer to her (and she wondered if it was really due to her changed wardrobe like they said, or if her girlfriend had an hand in it) she still didn't feel comfortable joining them.

She had nothing in common with the gang, except Santana, and she had no intention to go there with them. Not if she wanted to win Nationals, since they needed twelve members at least: Finn would quickly feel really sore, just like his night with Santana was still a sore subject for Rachel. Noah would join him after the first lewd comments and Mike and Matt too, probably, if they ever remind her that they kissed Santana.

It was clear that she couldn't join the original Gleeks plus Quinn, since their favorite activity was gossiping, preferably about her and about the supposed promiscuous lives of Santana and Brittany.

And not wanting to fuel their gossip she couldn't join the two Cheerios: they knew that they were friends, sure, but Rachel was aware that her self-control wasn't its normal steely one around Santana.

She was busy reordering music sheets when two arms encircled her waist. Used at the stealthy attacks from Brittany, since she took upon herself the task to hug the tiny diva also on Santana's part, as the brunette couldn't do it at school, Rachel continued working.

It was only when she felt lips on her neck that she froze.

"Ehi!" she yelped. "Why'd you do that?" she asked, her eyes searching for Santana, who was frowning, clearly displeased, but was reigning herself, not wanting to cause a scene, especially since now everyone was looking at Brittany and Rachel.

The blonde shrugged, "I wanted to see why vampires like it so much."

Rachel lowered the hand that was protecting her neck, while Brittany bounced at her seat next Santana.

"Wow! You'd be a great vampire," Finn said impressed.

Soon everyone was looking at Rachel's neck.

"You have wicked skills. Teach me?" Puck asked, still staring at the bruise.

Rachel frown: Brittany couldn't have left marks, she barely felt her teeth, just a light scrape… Her hand flied to cover the love bite.

"I'm going to the toilet," she looked pointedly at Santana, before turning on her heels and leaving the room.

.

"Get that proud look off of your face," Rachel hissed, still looking in the mirror while Santana guarded the door.

"Come on, you have to admit that I did a damn good job," she smirked going towards Rachel trying to touch her neck, but she got her hand batted away. "And you weren't complaining this morning, actually you were ready-"

Rachel spun around. "If it wasn't for Brittany's readiness we would be in a lot of trouble."

As Santana looked down the finger pointing on her chest, Rachel flicked on her forehead. Santana's head shot up; she massaged the spot, cursing herself for having taught the trick to her girlfriend.

"What?" she finally asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes "They would have asked who had done it to me," she pointed at her hickey. "Naturally I wouldn't have told them, but you know how they are, they wouldn't be discouraged. They would have continued to prod and poke. And I wouldn't get past them to tail me. And you know what it would mean?" she continued without waiting for an answer "That even if we stopped seeing each other romantically," Rachel smiled inwardly at the outraged look on Santana's face, "they would find out that we live together. And everything we did to keep it hidden would be wasted."

"So?"

"So… from now no bites or hickeys unless there is enough time off of school that they'll be faded when we return. Exactly what I'm doing since you started practice."

Santana nodded begrudgingly, "Not even in less visible spot?"

"San…" Rachel raised her eyebrow, "you shower and change every day with a bunch of other girls... and you made me keep those 'ridiculous' short skirts."

A knock interrupted them.

"Go away!"

"S?"

Santana opened the door. "Sorry, B, I didn't know it was you."

Brittany shrugged smiling. "Rach, I brought you something to cover it," she handed her make-up bag, "and the others sent me to make sure that S didn't kill you. I don't know why they think it, something about jealousy…" she said, hopping on the counter. "You taste very good, you know"

"Thank you, Brittany," Rachel smiled at her, before nudging at Santana.

"Yeah, thank you, B."

"It's so exciting!" She clapped her hands "It's like in the movies, with the secret lovers and…"

Santana tuned her out "At least someone gets their fun," she mumbled.

Ooooooo

The stands were almost empty, everyone had left as soon as the match finished, except whoever was waiting for the players or the cheerleaders.

Rachel had arrived early with Santana and Brittany and had chosen a seat with a perfect view of the cheerleaders, while the rest of Glee club who arrived later was sat in the middle, where they could follow the match better.

And while she knew that she should have joined them, now that there were so few people around, especially since she was alone and it didn't seem logical to move the entire group to reach her, Rachel remained where she was.

"Hey."

Rachel turned to greet the girl. "Hello." she said warily, eyeing the green cheerleading uniform.

"What are you doing here?"

"I think it's clear."

"Oh, it was."

Rachel looked at her.

"You didn't look away from the cheerleaders for a second, I bet you don't even know who won the match."

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Rachel asked, slightly irritated.

"No, but I'd like to know you," the girl smirked.

"What?"

"I've see you look at us, I watched you all the match, and I knew that I needed to know you."

Rachel gaped at her.

"Uhh"

.

"What?" Kurt asked.

Artie pointed towards the field.

"Uh," Kurt agreed "Watchdog at six."

"What?" Mercedes looked at the boys confused.

Kurt only said one word "Santana"

Everyone then looked as the Latina marched towards the stands, where a cheerleader from the other team was clearly flirting with Rachel.

.

"So, what do you say? Wanna drink something with me?"

"I'm flattered, but I don't think it's appropriate," Rachel tried to let her down gently.

"Please, don't give me some bullshit about school rivalry. It's clear that these people don't appreciate you, since a stunning girl like you isn't a cheerleader."

"Berry," Santana's bark interrupted the conversation. "What are you doing?" she asked glaring at the other cheerleader, who scurried away.

Then she took Rachel by her wrist, dragging her onto the field, where the people on the stands could see them but not hear them.

"What the fuck?"

"Santana, you're hurting me." Rachel tried to pry Santana's fingers away.

"Sorry," she immediately let her go. "What…" she gestured around "What was that?"

"I don't know, she came up and started talking to me."

"You were blushing."

"I'm sorry, I'm a good actress, but I can't control things like that!" Rachel started getting annoyed.

Santana raised her hand, "Okay, calm down."

"I'm calm," Rachel snipped.

The Latina took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, okay, I probably exaggerated."

"Probably?" she asked sarcastically.

"And you're not helping."

Rachel looked away, "Sorry."

.

"I don't know how she put up with Santana constantly watching over her. I get that Brittany is her best friend, but for Christ's sake!"

They took their eyes away from the two girls gesturing widely on the field to look at Tina. "Sorry, Quinn," she blushed

The blonde smiled. "It's okay."

"It's like she is just waiting for Rachel to screw up… do you think that she still has feeling for Brittany?"

"Why are you looking at me?" Quinn asked.

"You are the one who knows her better."

"Yes, but she is Santana Lopez." Quinn stressed the name. "You never know with her."

"Yeah," the others agreed, returning to watch the two girls.

.

"I hate it," Santana burst out. "I hate that people flirt with you and I can't do anything. This morning at the lockers there were some jocks talking about you. I wanted to smash their heads into the wall. Brittany turned around and said 'You shouldn't talk like that about a taken girl'. You see" she threw her hands in the air, as Rachel smiled thinking about Brittany, "How can someone take Brittany seriously? They know that you're taken, but they think you're B's girlfriend and feel free to…. hit on you!" she concluded exasperated.

"What can I do?"

Santana calmed down "Nothing." She licked her lips. "It's not your fault, I know, I'm sorry," she looked down at Rachel's wrist. "Did I really hurt you?"

"Don't worry," Rachel smiled, moving it. "See, as good as new."

Santana scratched her head, "I'm really sorry."

"San, if you repeat it another time…"

"Sor-" she laughed. "Want to go home?"

"Please." Rachel went to take Santana's hand, before remembering where she was, "Right." she crossed her arms on her chest, to block her hands.

"Not so easy, eh?" Santana teased her.

"Well, consider it an exercise for when I will be famous."

Santana stopped in her tracks, thoughts about legions of enamored fans invading her mind. "Mierda."

Oooooooo

"Hey guys." Brittany strolled in the choir room.

"Hey Brit." "Hi." "Hello."

After a moment of silence Artie raised his hand, "Brittany?"

"Yes?" she looked at him.

"Who is your friend?"

Everyone nodded, staring at the boy who was sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I've never seen him around." Puck looked at him, wary of any new competitor.

"Oh," Brittany smiled brightly. "This is Robert, my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend?" Kurt repeated.

"Yes!" she took Rob's hand.

Kurt looked at Mercedes, then at his other gossiping fellows. "Do you think Rachel know about this?" he whispered.

"I think we'll find out soon," Quinn nodded towards the door.

Rachel and Santana appeared and stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw the boy next to Brittany. They both tilted their head to the side, looking at him up and down, before going towards the couple.

"S, Rach, this is Robert, my boyfriend," she announced standing up and pulling up him with her.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting for some drama, or at least some reactions from Rachel.

They tensed when she opened her mouth.

"Do you have a clean health bill?"

Everybody looked at Rachel shocked, except Santana, who was still staring at Robert and Brittany who was smiling alternatively at the two girls in front of her and at her boyfriend.

"Yes," he stuttered, when he understood that she was waiting for an answer.

"Previous relationships?" Santana asked.

"Two, the last one ended a year ago," he added after a second thought, missing the imperceptible nod of appraisal.

"One-night stands?" Rachel enquired in a business-like tone.

"I don't know?" he said hesitantly, this time seeing the disapproval on the girls' faces. "Can I think a bit longer?"

"Last one?" Rachel ignored his question.

"This summer."

"Are you financially secure?" Santana resumed.

"What are your working prospectives?"

"What are your intentions with B?"

Robert looked lost at Brittany, who didn't seem fazed by the crossfire of questions.

"You have till tonight to come up with your answers. Dinner at my place at 8. Any allergies?"

"It's not a difficult question," Santana said when he hesitated to answer.

"I need to know because I'm making dinner. Don't worry, I'll assess the situation, before starting to plot your demise. Not that I'd steal Santana's fun." Rachel smiled sweetly at him.

The Latina cracked her knuckles. "You didn't answer."

"Nothing, I don't have allergies," he finally said.

"Good. Remember. 8 o'clock." Rachel nodded.

"Rach," Brittany called her when she and Santana were almost out of the room. She turned. "Will you make your cheesecake as dessert?"

Rachel grinned at the blonde "Cheesecake it is!"

Robert looked after the girls in shock, not believing that he had answered such personal questions in front of perfect strangers.

"You weren't kidding about them being protective," he finally turned to look at Brittany.

She smiled at him, stretching her hand for him. "Aren't they cute?" she asked, before leaving the room.

"Okay" Kurt broke the silence when the couple was out of earshot. "What was that?"

"I didn't even know that they had broken up," Mercedes was slightly peeved by her lack of knowledge.

"Me neither. But she didn't see upset by it, or by the new boyfriend," Tina observed.

"Maybe they were just friends with benefits, like with Santana?" Kurt wondered.

"Do you think that the three of them…" a slap from Quinn interrupted Puck's dream.

"Rachel would never do something like that." Finn glared at the boy, who was massaging his neck.

"Well, we never thought that she would hook up with Brittany, either," Artie piped up.

"And why, now that Brittany is over her, didn't Santana run from Rachel like the wind?"

"Guys. Do you realize that we are wasting our time trying to enter into their heads? They are like… the craziest girls in the school… Apart from Suzie Pepper"

"What about Ms. Sylvester?" Kurt interrupted Quinn.

"And Ms. Pillsbury?" Tina added.

"I'm talking about students. Anyway, B thinks dolphins are gay sharks… and Rachel Berry's mind…" Quinn faked a shiver. "I don't even want to think about it."

"Yeah, Quinn is right," Mercedes pat her shoulders.

"Just be grateful for all the gossip they provide us."

Everyone laughed at Kurt's words.

Oooooo

"Oh my God!"

"Leroy, what are you… what the hell!"

The loud exclamations woke up Rachel, who opened her eyes.

"Daddy, Dad!" she yelled happily.

She got rid of the sheets, trying to scrambling out of the bed. She was ready to jump into their arms when she felt another pair of arms circling her waist and keeping her still.

"Santana, let me go," she tried to wriggle out of her grip. "What are you doing?"

"You are naked!"

Rachel stopped her movements.

"Oh shit!"

If the men weren't already shocked, they surely were after hearing their daughter swearing while looking frantically around for something to cover herself with.

When Rachel finally had her robe tied up, she stood still, looking at her fathers, the excitement for the unexpected return of her fathers leaving space to the realization that said fathers had just seen her in bed, naked, with another girl.

"I'm so sorry!" Leonor arrived panting, "I was thinking about how happy you were going to be seeing them that I forgot to warn you."

"You knew?" Hiram looked at the woman.

Before she could answer, Santana emerged from the bathroom. She swallowed and came forwards "Hello sir, I'm Santana," she said,

"You're Santana?" both men asked at the same time, before looking at Leonor, who smiled sheepishly.

Leroy cleared his throat. "Well, we have heard a lot of you."

Santana opened her mouth for the customary answer. "Rachel talked a lot about you too", but it got stuck in her throat. Damn, Rachel and her honesty policy.

"Yeah," Santana scratched her head blushing, both for the uncomfortable situation and her lame answer.

"Even if this isn't how I imagined meeting you,"

"Sorry," Rachel and Santana apologized.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to tell you on the phone."

"Does Shelby know?"

"Yes," Rachel looked at the ground.

"So we're the last to know?" Hiram asked in a tone that was both sad and bitter.

"Actually, apart ours mothers, and Brittany… you are the only ones who know," Santana said.

"Why don't we sit down and talk calmly?" Leonor suggested, hoping to give everyone time to clear their head; when everyone nodded, she turned towards the girls "Get changed. We'll be waiting downstairs."

.

"They hate me."

"Santana, they don't hate you"

"Your dad, Hiram, he wanted to kill me, I saw it in his eyes."

Rachel took Santana's face in her hands, "San, you're freaking out."

"I'm freaking out, oh hell yes! My girlfriend's parents just caught me in bed with her, why shouldn't I be?"

"Girls, we can hear you," a voice called them.

Leonor looked at the two couples sitting in the living room. The men were looking calmer and somehow amused by what they heard.

The girls on the contrary were tense and nervous, sitting together with their hands clasped tightly.

"We can explain," Santana started breaking the silence that was becoming very uncomfortable for her.

Leroy raised his hand to stop her. "Wait. We want to say something first."

He looked at his husband, who nodded at him. It was clear to Santana that Leroy was the calm one, the talker in their relationship, while Hiram was more prone to outburst.

"I think we don't even need to say that we don't have a problem with Rachel having a relationship with a girl," everyone nodded. "And we don't have a problem with that girl being you, Santana. We know you mother very well, she is an amazing woman. We consider her part of the family. And I know that she considers Rachel as a second daughter. Well, not really, because it would be so wrong!" he shook his head as to clear his mind. "But she helped us to raise Rachel, so knowing that she raised you the same way, with the same values, and ideals…"

He stopped when Hiram squeezed his thigh, "Well, we don't have a problem with you"

Yep, Santana thought, he rambles too, definitely Rachel's father.

"But you have to understand that it was a shock for us. We know that we haven't really been present in Rachel's life lately."

Santana bit her tongues to stop her words: it wasn't the right moment to antagonize them.

"But the last time we were home she had a crush on that Finn boy."

"Idiot," Santana mumbled and Rachel slapped her lightly.

"He was," she defended herself while Hiram said "She is right."

This time both Rachel and Leroy slapped their partners. Leonor chuckled at the mirroring actions and the men smiled too.

"How long?"

"Last summer," Rachel looked down. "I really didn't want to tell on the phone, I was hoping you would come home sooner but…" she trailed off and Santana squeezed her hand, smiling sweetly.

"We're not angry."

"Not too much, anyway," Hiram corrected him, but he smiled at the girl, to let them know that it wasn't going to be a problem.

"But we missed so much," Leroy continued. "We have a plane in two days, but maybe we should reschedule it."

"No!" Rachel exclaimed. "You don't have to do it. I'd love to have you at home, but I understand your job's demands. What would happen if you don't go as scheduled?"

The men looked at each other.

"The truth," Rachel added.

"We'll lose the contract," Hiram admitted.

"Then no. You'll take that plane." Rachel stated with finality.

"Okay" they agreed "But we still want to know how it happened. Everything."

"Well, everything began when I asked Rachel if she could take us in because our home was practically destroyed…." Leonor started.


	7. Epilogue

"I can't believe it's over." Kurt shifted his bangs.

"Finally!" Puck stretched his arms above his head.

The Glee club was at park, celebrating the end of high school with a picnic. They had united two tables, because Ms. Pillsbury put a halt to sitting on the grass.

"So, Rachel, what are your plans now?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"We have found some places in New York, so we'll settle down." if someone found strange Rachel using the plurals they didn't show it. "We'll have some family time and we'll take a vacation."

"Look what I found!"

Heads turned to the voice, and froze at the sight of Santana Lopez with a kid on her hip.

"Oh, what is it?" Rachel asked, overemphasizing her curiosity.

"I think it's an elf, or a dwarf, or…"

"Quit the height jokes if you don't want to sleep on the couch."

The Glee club watched fascinated with the exchange.

"El, El!" the baby stretched her arms towards Rachel.

"Saved by the bell," the girl warned Santana, while taking the toddler in her arms. "Come here, baby girl."

She put the infant on her legs. "Let me guess, you're here for ice cream."

The baby clapped her hands.

"What flavor?"

"Fruit."

"You corrupted her! No sane kid would choose fruits over creams," Santana moaned.

"Beth is perfectly healthy, Santana! Ouch!" Rachel pulled out her hair from Beth's grasp. "We are going, we are going, no need to hurt me," Rachel stood up from the bench.

"Down," Beth ordered.

"Bossy," Rachel murmured putting her down on the ground.

"Look who's talking," Santana snickered.

"Tana! Hand! Tana!" Beth was extending her hand to Santana, the other already holding Rachel's, before dragging the two girls towards the ice cream stand.

"Hi!"

"Shelby, what are you doing here?" Mr. Schuester asked, once he saw who Brittany had greeted.

"I'm looking for my girls," she glanced around.

"So" Mr. Schue cleared his throat to break the silence. "Are you going back to Vocal Adrenaline?"

"Oh, no! I'm transferring to New York."

"Really?" Ms. Pillsbury inquired suddenly interested.

"Rachel is moving too," Finn said.

"I know," Shelby smiled. "I promised to be around."

"It's nice. I mean, that you are keeping your words to Rachel." Emma said.

"To Santana."

"What?" the red head blinked.

"I promised to Santana that I would never leave Rachel again, and by the way, where are they?"

"Why to Santana?" Finn asked the question everyone was thinking, but Shelby ignored him, as Brittany touched her arm.

"There! Aren't they cute? They seem a family," the blonde pointed at the two girls who were holding Beth hands and swinging the baby.

"Disturbingly so."

"Because she is your daughter?" Brittany asked. "But Rachel is your daughter too," she added after a second though confused.

"No," Shelby chuckled "It's silly I know, but people usually date, then try to live together, and the next step is expanding the family. But they are ahead on this schedule, and now that Leonor won't be there to buffer"

"What's the matter with her cooking buffet?" Brittany interrupted her.

"I mean that Leonor won't be living with them anymore… and what if they want to jump at the next stage, skipping the living together part?"

"But they already live together," the blonde noted, continuing the conversation and ignoring the confused Glee members, "but you know, I think that before having a baby Rachel would want to get married."

Shelby looked at her, amazed. "I hadn't thought about that," she said, her concern not diminishing.

"Hey mom," Rachel stood on her toes to kiss her on the cheek, before sitting down.

"Hello Shelby," Santana sat down, putting Beth between her and her girlfriend.

"Mom, why are you looking at me like that?" Rachel stopped helping Beth eating her ice cream.

"Nothing," Shelby collected herself "I was lost in thought," she smiled at her daughter.

"Ahi, Rachel, do something"

"What is it, Santana?" Rachel rolled her eyes.

"She punched me, tell her to stop," Santana whined, earning shocked stares from the people sitting at the table.

"You should stop stealing her ice cream," Rachel said in a business tone, showing not surprise, but only amusement, and a little bit of annoyance.

"But she hit me," Santana repeated, trying to underlying the violent part of Beth's action, knowing how Rachel abhorred it.

"And who taught that to her?" Rachel finally looked at her, raising her eyebrow.

"She needed to know how to defend herself!" Santana protested.

"It was you," Rachel ignored her defense "So suck it up."

"I would prefer sucking something else…" Santana smirked.

Half of those present blushed, someone took a breath of relief seeing that the Santana Lopez they knew was still there, and Brittany and Shelby shrugged it off, used to the girls' banter.

"Santana, not in front of the child," Rachel chastised her girlfriend.

"Sorry." she didn't look apologetic at all.

"You'll be a wonderful mom," Brittany stated.

"Okay," Rachel took a breath. "Why we are talking about babies? Again, I'd add."

"Again? Are you pregnant?" Finn asked.

"Why does everyone thinks so? No, I'm not pregnant!" Rachel threw her hands in air.

Santana rubbed her back. "Cool down, querida, your mother knows that she doesn't have to worry about that for now," she looked pointedly at Shelby.

"And what about marriage?" the woman blurted out.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, I promise that when I'll decide to ask Rachel to marry me, or for a baby, you'll be the first to know."

"Really? And what about me?" Rachel looked pissed. "And who say that you'll be the one asking me? I told you on the first date how do I feel about that."

"Sorry!" Santana closed her eyes to calm down. "I promise that when we decide to get married or to have a baby you'll be the first to know," she repeated, looking at Rachel for appreciation. Her girlfriend nodded.

"And your mom?" Shelby asked.

"Okay, I'll do a conference with you, my mom and Beth."

The baby looked up, hearing her name and Santana smiled at her, ruffling her hairs.

"And Brittany," Rachel added, her eyes dancing with mirth seeing her slightly exasperated girlfriend.

"And Brittany," Santana confirmed.

"Wow, this is serious," Mercedes breathed out.

"What does that mean?" Santana asked, taking the defensive.

Kurt raised his hands as she was a dangerous animal. "I think that what she wanted to say is that you're talking about marriage and kids, and it's kind of serious."

"And why shouldn't be serious?" the Latina scoffed.

"Maybe because we didn't even know you were dating?" Quinn piped out.

Rachel and Santana looked at each other.

"Oops."


End file.
